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      Giving (Part Two of "Givers and Giving")
navblue.jpg (647 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes)     On the Occasion of Giving
navblue.jpg (647 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes) The Giving Model
navblue.jpg (647 bytes)arrow.gif (139 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes) What We Didn’t Find
navblue.jpg (647 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes) transpxl.gif (67 bytes) Stairway to Given
  Comparing Givers by Size of Gift

What We Didn't Find


Sometimes what you don’t find is just as telling as what you do.

Station Characteristics

For instance, we tested several hypotheses about the stations themselves and found them unsupported by the data:

  • Unsupported: Joint licensees are better able to mine listeners.

  • Unsupported: Stations that depend heavily on listener income are better able to mine listeners.

  • Unsupported: Stations with the largest gross budgets are better able to mine listeners.

None of these station-specific variables is in the Public Radio Recontact Survey’s database. We thank Tom Thomas of the Station Resource Group for helping us work through these ideas, and CPB for the data we needed to test them with statistical rigor.

Listener Characteristics

Many listener characteristics could conceivably influence the size of a person’s gift – but do not. This table shows how much the knowledge of specific demographics, utiligraphics, and attitudes toward public radio would add were each included next in the giving model.

 

Beta In

Signif.

Tolerance
Demographics
Sex

-.009

.676

.955
Age

.024

.298

.909
Education

.007

.782

.824
White

.029

.192

.987
Black

-.008

.733

.983
Employed

.019

.425

.895
Retired

-.010

.681

.887
Fulfilled (VALS 2)

.014

.609

.687
    
Utiligraphics
Years Listening to the Station

.022

.325

.963
Core Listener to the Station

.043

.283

.305
Exclusive Listener to the Station

-.015

.584

.642
Listens on Weekdays

.015

.511

.911
Listens on Weekends

.054

.019

.919
Time Spent Listening to News

-.001

.966

.794
Time Spent Listening to Classical

.000

.990

.926
Time Spent Listening to Jazz

.017

.461

.948
Horizontal Hold to the Station

.012

.697

.538
Occasions to the Station

.048

.132

.476
Duration per Occasion to the Station

-.029

.267

.730
Time Spent Listening to the Radio

.015

.690

.351
Occasions to the Radio

.028

.278

.745
Duration per Occasion to the Radio

-.049

.058

.720
Horizontal Hold to the Radio

.003

.885

.837
    
Attitudes and Perceptions
Personal Importance of the Station

-.017

.565

.546
The news programming on public radio is unique,
   not available on commercial stations

.031

.211

.776
The music programming on public radio is unique,
   not available on commercial stations

-.006

.799

.908
I seek out public radio whenever I move residence
   or travel out of town

-.012

.636

.800
I generally think of public radio as being
   financially supported by contributing listeners

.031

.175

.953
I generally think of public radio as being financially
   supported by universities or government tax dollars

-.051

.021

.982
The social and cultural values I hear expressed on
   public radio usually fit closely with my own values

.030

.209

.864
I keep listening to the public radio station
   during its on-air membership drives

.048

.039

.890
The on-air membership drives are getting more prevalent
   than in the past

-.020

.358

.985
The on-air membership drives are becoming easier
   to listen to than in the past

.023

.314

.937
The on-air mentions of business support (underwriting)
   are getting more prevalent than in the past

-.004

.871

.966
The on-air mentions of business support (underwriting)
   are getting more annoying than in the past

-.026

.238

.993
My opinion of a company is more positive
   when I find out that it supports public radio

-.024

.301

.931
I am concerned that businesses which support public radio
   may eventually force changes in the programming

-.065

.004

.977
I personally would be less likely to contribute to public
   radio if more businesses were to support it

-.055

.013

.990

– David Giovannoni
AUDIENCE 98 Core Team

 

Audience Research Analysis
Copyright © ARA and CPB.  All rights reserved.
Revised: September 01, 2000 12:38 PM.