The Importance of Radio News to Listeners

While the news is considered a vitally important aspect of most radio stations' formats, broadcasters need to determine what a listener wants from the news-listening experience and how a station can program news in the form most desirable for the listener. This study, based on a Lawrence, Kansas, telephone survey of radio listeners, found that radio news is not of special importance to all listeners--younger listeners (college and "rock" listeners) placed less importance on news than did older or noncollege listeners and country, classical, and "middle-of-the-road" listeners; that music is the primary reason for listening to the radio, followed by news, companionship or background, and entertainment; that among reasons for preferring one station are radio news, local news, good coverage, personalities presenting the news, frequency of newscasts, understandability, reception, and quantity of news; and that some of the aspects of radio considered important are coverage of a wide range of subjects, giving details about what goes on behind the scenes, having on-the-scene reports from reporters in the field, and the quantity of news stories carried. (Author/JM)