Canadians listening to the radio less: report
Canadians are not spending as much time listening to the radio as they once did, according to a new government report that was released on Friday.
The report says that Canadians spend 90 fewer minutes per week tuning in to their favourite stations compared to a decade ago.
A joint venture of Statistics Canada, Heritage Canada and the CRTC, the survey compares the listening habits of Canadians in the fall of 2004 with the figures for 1995.
It found that the average person spends 19.5 hours a week listening to the radio. That number represents a drop of an hour and a half.
Despite the overall decline, people are listening to the radio more in their cars and at work.
In 1995, people spent 56 per cent of their listening time at home; that number has now fallen to 49 per cent.
Meanwhile, Canadians now spend 27 per cent of listening time in the car (up from 22 per cent) and 23 per cent while working (up from 20 per cent).
As for regional differences, residents of Prince Edward Island are the most avid radio listeners, logging an average of 21.2 hours a week of listening time. People in British Columbia, by contrast, spend the least amount of time ñ an average of 17.8 hours ñ listening to the radio.
The report also found differences between the listening habits of teens and those of adults.
“Radio still has very little appeal for teenagers,” it states. “In the fall of 2004, they tuned in for only 8.5 hours a week, the least amount of time devoted to the medium by any age group.”
Indeed, teens are tuning out more rapidly than adults. The 2004 figures indicated an average decline of three hours per week for teens compared to five years ago.
The average adult decline, on the other hand, was about an hour.
The numbers come from log-type questionnaires and cover a six-week period from Sept. 6 to Oct. 31, 2004. Only people over 12 years old were allowed to participate.
The response rate was 41.4 per cent, which StatsCan says is “in line with Canadian and international broadcasting industry practice for audience measurement.”
“However, the data should be interpreted with caution,” the agency added.
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