The audience for community radio has jumped in the past two years even as the overall audience for commercial radio has marginally declined, according to a survey.
The McNair Telephone Ingenuity survey of 5000 people, commissioned by The Community Broadcasting Association of Australia found that the proportion of people aged over 15 years who listened to a community radio station in an
average week had increased from 4,034,000 in 2006 to 4,519,00 this year.
This represents an increase from 25% of those surveyed to 27%.
The McNair survey showed the total audience listening to any form of radio had declined slightly, from 86% of those surveyed in 2006 to 84% this year.
This suggests a marginal decline in total audience for commercial radio stations, given the increase in listenership for community radio.
Deb Welch, president of the CBAA said yesterday: “The survey results and listener comments suggest that as the mass media market fragments and as listeners become more aware of the possibilities of what is out there, some are rejecting what they see as narrow music formats and heavily networked programs on commercial radio.”
The CBAA is calling on the Federal Government to increase funding to the community radio sector, whose core funding has dropped 41% in the past decade and by 18% for individual stations.