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New Share of Ear study in Canada says radio is still KING
The nerw Share of Ear study in Canada By Edison Research commissioned by Radio Connects, not only gives a comprehensive look at Canadians’ share of time spent listening to AM/FM radio and streaming audio, but proves what I’ve been saying for years to the deaf ears of radio management and sales people that more people listen to radio overnight then they cared to admit.
No surprise that morning AM/FM radio in Canada has the lion share of tuning on all platforms at 72%. No surprise that 10a-3p is second at 62%. But look at the percentage of people tuned to radio between 3p and 7p (58%) compared to 59% between midnight and 6am. Now I will concede that the overall audience is larger in the afternoon than it is overnight. But what supports my arguement is the Share of Ear study looks at the overall percentage of people who listen to audio on all platforms. So of all people who are awake overnight and listening to different audio platforms, 59% of them are listening to the radio to keep them company overnight.
In my opinion, Overnight radio programming (on talk radio with infomercials, repeat broadcasts or U.S. syndicated comedy or conspiracy shows and music radio that discourages personality radio with its more music/less talk or voice tracking) is so bad that the study shows 20% of those listening to all audio platforms overnight rather plug into streaming audio. The second highest daypart for streaming audio is 7p-midnight. Why? Because too many radio managers think it’s not worth spending money on local live talent and good programming in the evening. The net result according to the Share of Ear study is that 7p-midnight you have only 42% listening to the radio, 21% listening to owned music (CDs, and digital music files) 17% to streaming audio and 20% to other online platforms.
For more of my rant that probably won't be well received by many station owners and radio execs click here to read my latest On The Kowch Blog. The Share of Ear charts and my opinions that mirror what many contributors to this board have expressed in the past will make it worth the click to kowchmedia.
- Dale Patterson
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Re: New Share of Ear study in Canada says radio is still KING
The midnight-6 a.m. time slot used to be where the fun began. One of my favourite all-night shows was the late Joe Donovan's "Rock 'N' Roll Revival" on 50,000-watt WHAS Louisville. Donovan played requests - answering his own phones - even mailing cassette copies of songs to listeners at his own expense. He did contests, played mostly vinyl, chose his own music, and broadcast live every weeknight from midnight-5 a.m. from 1977 to 1997. His playlist consisted of over 18,000 songs - he played virtually EVERYTHING that charted from the '50s through the '80s. One of the highlights was the "Odd and Obscure Hour" at 3 a.m., 60 minutes of songs from the deepest parts of his musical archive. To borrow WHAS's slogan at the time, he really was "The Friend You Can Depend On."
One wonders if any of the big corporate stations nowadays would ever take a chance on a quirky, but wonderful program like Donovan's. I doubt it, but there really is an audience out there in the wee hours.
"Life without echo is really no life at all." - Dan Ingram