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Survey Results:
Media And Youth: High School Students’
Perceptions Of Radio And Media In 2005
Originally printed in FMQB - April 1,
2005
Just over a month ago, I had the privilege
of working as a Volunteer Instructor for a
non-profit program in Washington, D.C.
called Presidential Classroom. The
stated mission of that program is to prepare
young leaders for responsible citizenship
and provide outstanding high school students
the chance to explore the political process
firsthand. The week I chose to volunteer, a
special focus week titled
Media and Democracy, allowed the
students in attendance to investigate the
relationship between the news media and
government, with analysis of a free press, a
well-informed citizenry, and a democratic
government.
Getting the chance to spend so much time with such an amazing group of
students allowed me to gain unique insights
into their opinions and perceptions of the
media. In preparing for the week, I created
a survey that examined those perceptions and
was presented to the nearly 200 students
that participated. Based on that survey, and
dozens of conversations with students, we
were able to get a good idea of how high
school students perceive the media –
including radio, indecency, the FCC,
iPods, MTV, and much more.
Before we examine the results of the survey, a brief overview of the
respondents is necessary. Due to the nature
of the program, including admission
requirements, the students surveyed for this
article may not represent the average high
school student. While respondents came from
38 different states, the vast majority are
considered to be the "best and brightest" in
their schools. They consistently test in the
top percentiles, are actively involved in a
variety of activities both in and outside of
school, and are actively engaged in the
study of the media. All respondents were
either juniors or seniors in high school at
the time of the survey. Students were split
fairly evenly with regard to political
affiliations and beliefs. The group was also
composed of roughly 60 percent females. With
those "disclaimers" in mind, let’s
investigate media and the youth, and their
perceptions of radio and the media in 2005.
Radio Still Has Reach
Within the music and broadcast industries today, there are mixed feelings
about the state of the business. Studies
continue to tell us that radio is still the
most effective, most far-reaching, and most
prevalent form of media currently available.
However, there are signs that the strength
is beginning to degrade – declining TSL,
falling CD sales, lower tour revenues – due
in part to new technologies and fragmented
attention. As a result, one of the main
focuses of our study was how the
participants use radio, and how they see the
industry.
First, when asked where they learn about new music, nearly one-third of
respondents (31 percent) said they initially
hear new songs and artists on the radio.
That was second only to hearing about it
from friends (37 percent) and more than two
times higher than discovering it online (13
percent). Radio is still one of the best
places to hear the newest music, and that
seems to be the reason that people listen.
So, while TSL has been declining, people are
still listening.
They’re also listening at many different times during the day, and the
trends in that area seem to be holding
fairly steady. Leading the dayparts as
usual, 35 percent of respondents said they
listen to radio during the Morning Drive,
while 24 percent said they listen during the
Afternoon Drive. Not surprisingly, only two
percent of respondents listen during the
Midday shift (since they are most likely in
school), but they more than made up for it
in the evening hours – 23 percent said they
listen between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. while 34
percent said they listen between 6 p.m. and
Midnight. About five percent of respondents
also said they listen during the Overnight
shift.
As for specific TSL figures, about 43 percent of respondents said that they
listen to radio at least one to three hours
per day and 19 percent said they listen more
than three hours each day. On the downside,
more than 37 percent said they listen less
than one hour each day. What should be most
concerning for radio, however, is the
behavior of respondents when a commercial
break comes on. Forty-six percent of
respondents immediately change stations
while 24 percent change to a CD or cassette
and five percent change to a digital music
player; that means that 75 percent of the
people we surveyed are lost once a
commercial break starts. Conversely, only 10
percent of respondents listen through all
the commercials while 14 percent listen
through some commercials and then change.
We also asked participants to tell us how they believe consolidation has
affected radio. More than half of
respondents (52 percent) on our survey said
they believe large corporations have not
changed radio. However, 35 percent did say
they believed large corporations have made
radio worse while only 13 percent thought
radio has improved.
The FCC, Indecency, And MTV
One of the benefits of working with Presidential Classroom is the exclusive
access to Washington politicians and
insiders. Because the focus of the week was
Media and Democracy, the program was
able to convince Bryan Tramont, Esq.,
Chief of Staff to former FCC Chairman
Michael Powell, to participate in a
seminar and take questions from the
students. While that seminar was closed to
the press and the content is officially off
the record, the one thing that became clear
was that the FCC is coping with the issue of
indecency in much the same way as the
broadcast industry. Feeling inundated with
conflicting opinions, they continue to deal
with other issues including Low Power FM,
Voice Over IP, satellite radio, and wireless
telephony all at the same time. Those
sentiments were also reflected in the
results of the survey, which showed that the
students attending the program – like the
FCC and much of the country – are divided on
the issue of indecency, and even its
definition. The charts below show two of the
questions concerning indecency and indecent
content and some of those results.
Even MTV could not escape the confusion that
has been created in the last 18 months. When
asked to describe the content of MTV’s
programming on a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = "Not
sexual" while 5 = "Too Sexual"), the results
were mixed. While the majority of those
surveyed agreed that MTV does include sexual
content, the pervasiveness of that content
was still unclear. Twelve percent of
respondents indicated the MTV’s programming
was "Too sexual" while a significant 55
percent thought it was "Overly sexual" in
nature (4 or 5 on the scale). In addition,
more that one-third of respondents fell
right in the middle, describing MTV’s
content as "Sometimes suggestive but not
generally offensive" (3 on the scale). On
the other hand, just one percent of
respondents thought MTV was "Not Sexual" and
nine percent indicated it was "Not generally
sexual" in nature (1 or 2 on the scale).
Finally, dealing with the overall perception
of the channel, nearly 85 percent of
respondents believed MTV would actually be
better described as "Entertainment
Television" while the remainder believed it
is truly "Music Television."
The Effect Of On-Demand Technology
Last week, a new study conducted by Arbitron and Edison Media
Research
concerning on-demand devices was released and described the changing
behavior caused by those new technologies.
One major finding in that study, titled
Internet & Multimedia 2005: The On-Demand
Media Consumer, was that users of
on-demand devices listen only slightly less
on average (15 minutes) than nonusers.
According to the study, that trend also
holds true across younger demographics.
While the study did not show a drastic
difference, there were indications that the
new technologies are changing the landscape.
Several questions asked by FMQB in the Presidential Classroom
survey yielded comparable findings to those
in the Arbitron-Edison study. For example,
according to our survey, 38 percent of
respondents owned an iPod or MP3 player
while in the Arbitron-Edison study, 27
percent of 12- to 17-year-olds and 18
percent of 18- to 24-year-olds own an iPod
or MP3 device. What was most interesting in
our survey was the manner in which those
devices have affected listening. The
Arbitron-Edison study found that 82 percent
of those surveyed claimed that they would
continue to listen to terrestrial radio in
the future as much as they do today despite
technology advancements. In addition, 70
percent said that they would continue to
listen to over-the-air radio as much as they
do now despite that technology progress.
While those results are somewhat forward looking, our survey indicated that
behaviors are already changing, sometimes
significantly. Of those respondents that do
own an iPod or MP3 player, 27 percent
indicated that the device has caused them to
listen to the radio "a lot less" while 22
percent indicated that the device had "not
at all" changed their listening habits.
Overall, when asked if the device had caused
participants to listen to the radio less on
a scale of 1 to 5 (1 = "No, Not At All," 5 =
"Yes, A Lot Less"), 42 percent of
respondents marked an affirmative response
(4 or 5 on the scale) while 40 percent
marked a negative response (1 or 2 on the
scale). This data would seem to indicate
that while people feel they may not change
their listening habits, the reality of
owning a device and using it regularly does
have a considerable impact.
As with any survey, the results are only as useful as the changes that are
made with the findings in mind. We covered
significant ground on our survey and
attempted to create questions that reflected
the important issues within the industry
today. Hopefully, we can all find the time
to glean something effective from the
findings and continue to improve our
business and our industry. Full details of
the Arbitron-Edison Media Research survey
can be found at
arbitron.com or
edisonresearch.com. For more information
on Presidential Classroom, to volunteer, or
to recommend a student for attendance,
please visit
presidentialclassroom.org or call
800.441.6533.
Download the full version as a PDF file
here (296 KB).
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