Formats and Fund Drives

Does a public station’s format influence its listeners' perceptions of fund drives?

One problem with on-air fundraising – and potentially a reason half of all listeners say they listen less during drives – is that a station’s sound generally changes.

In fact, aural alterations can be dramatic for some stations and formats. Listeners tuning in for Mozart or Miles might be jarred by a sudden switch to pitching and premiums.

But for news/talk stations, the segue is essentially from talk about one thing to talk about another.  To a listener’s ear the change in sound may be less abrupt, particularly if the switch is made by the on-air host of the moment.

With less "audio whiplash," news/talk listeners may be more inclined to listening through an on-air drive than those tuned in to a music format.

That was our theory.

To test it, AUDIENCE 98^® looked at two questions about fund drives on the Public Radio Recontact Survey. We posited that news/talk listeners differ significantly from music listeners in their perceptions of whether fund drives are getting easier to listen to, and that they are more likely to keep listening during a drive.

We were wrong – at least about the "significant" part.

Listeners to classical music are slightly less likely to say they keep listening during fund drives, but in this sense they really don't differ from news/talk listeners to any practical degree.  In fact, news/talk listeners are a bit more likely to think drives are getting harder to listen to (but again, the difference is practically insignificant).

The conclusion:

A station's format is not a predictor of listeners’ attitudes or behavior during fund drives.

So now we know.  Answers to public radio’s fund drive dilemma are not to be found in formats that are less alienating to the listener’s ear.

– Steve Martin
Program Director, WAMU
AUDIENCE 98 Associate

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