This document discusses an audience research survey about radio consumption. Students will use the GEARS socio-economic audience segmentation model to create a 10 question survey and distribute it to at least 100 people via SurveyMonkey. The results show that most participants listen to Capital FM or Heart FM, are aged 16-25, and listen to the radio for 0-3 hours per week, primarily in cars. Over half of participants also listen to music on Spotify.

1. Audience
Understandingaudience isanimportantaspectof mediastudies.Every mediaproducthas a target
audience.Youwill create an audience research surveylinkedtoradio consumption.To do thisyou
will applythe socio-economicmodel (GEARS) todeviseatenquestionsurvey.Your task is tofind
out howdifferent social groupslistento the radio and for how long. You will determinewhat
proportion of the audience listentoan agreedlist of radio stations whichyouthinkmightbe
targeted to youngerand olderlisteners.Youmustas part of the surveyinclude Radio1. Whilsttwo
separate groupswill devise the questionnaireyouwill combine the bestquestionsasone group
questionnaire.Youwill presentthe questionsinto surveymonkeyandthen try to surveyat leastone
hundredcontacts(as a class).Thiswill meanthatyouwill needto circulate the questionsto friends
and family.
It isimportantthat youhave collatedthe surveybefore Thursday’slessonasyouneedtoanalyse
the data on that day.
As part of thisassessmentyouare expectedtoaska broadrange of people basedonthe audience
segmentationmodel GEARS. Thisisrequiredsothatyoucan determine how differentaudiences
have differentconsumptionhabitsyouwillapplyGears. GEARSisan acronym whichstandsfor
Gender
Ethnicity
Age
Region
Socio economic The traditional segmentation model

3. People whohave aLouisVuittonbagare aspirers.
People whohave Applephonesare mainstream.
People whobuyKellogg’sare mainstream.
Uses and Gratification Model
 Developedby Bullmerand Katz.
Main reasonsforusingmedia:
 Personal Identification –todefine whowe are andrelate to a text
 (sometimescalledself-surveillance)
 Information
 Entertainment–includesescapism,distraction
 Social Interaction –to helpus socialise withlike-mindedpeople /subjecttotalkaboutwith
others,feel sympathy/empathywithcharacters.
Analysingthe results:
The resultsshowthat 45.3% of 65 participantssometimeslistentothe
radio.Overall,84.37% of participantslistentothe radio,meaningthatit
isa significantpartof ourlivesandsubsequentlyanimportantmedia
source.
Thisshowsthat 73.85% of 65 participantsare aged16-25. This could
reflectthe age of the surveyresearcher,aswe are alsointhat age
bracketso may have askedfriends/familywhoare asimilarage.The
secondbiggestage bracketis13.85%. Again,people mayhave asked
parentsand carersfor theirtime tocomplete the surveydue tothem
beingpresentinthe shortamountof time we had to complete the task,
whereas contactingorseeinganolderparticipant(e.g.grandparent)
may be more difficulttodo.
There isonlya 7.82% difference betweenfemale andmale participants,
meaningthatthe surveyquestionismore representative of itsradio
listenersbecauseitismore accurate.The smallerdifference showsthat
there wasa more equal balance of people askedaboutwhattheir
opinionsonthe radioare.Thisallowsvalidityforthe survey –creatinga
true picture of whatwe wantedto findout;whichdemographicslistento
whichradiostationsif anyand what that maysay aboutthem.

4. These resultsshowthatmostparticipantslistentoCapital FMor Heart FM.
Thiscouldbe due to the fact that theytypicallyplaymore modernpop,
R&B, rap and house musicwhichyoungerpeoplecanstereotypicallybe
more interestedin.If the age range variedmore,the resultsforwhichradio
stationislistenedtowouldprobablybe more varied –stationslike Classic
FM andBBC Radio maybe more popularamongstolderpeople.
Thisshowsthat due to the regioninwhichwe live in(Essex),alarge
amountof people whoparticipatedinthe surveyare white-British.
Howeveritalsoshowsthatwe dohave diversityandthatotherethnic
groupsare presentinourregion.
Most participantsinthe surveyare middle class.This couldreflectthe
olderage groupsas theywork andhave a goodeducation.The second
biggestsocial statusgroupisthe workingclass.Thisis representativeof
the age groupof 16-25 year oldsthat maystill be ineducationso
therefore domaynot have a joband earn money.
Most people thatparticipatedinthissurveylistento the radiointhe car.
Thiscouldbe due to the fact that theylistentomusiconSpotifyorapple
musicon theirphonesratherthanan actual radiostationbutlistento the
radioin the car because itisa mainfeature of the car and easyto puton.

5. The resultsforthe question“howlongdoyoulistentothe radioweekly?”
showthat people donotlistentothe radiotoo frequently.67.69% of the 65
participantslisten tothe radio0-3hoursa week.Thismayanchor the fact
that theymainlylistentothe radiointhe car, and due to the age bracket
beingmostly16-25 year oldstheymaynot be in the car for longenoughto
listentothe radiofor more than 0-3 hours a week.Onthe otherhand,an
olderpersonwhoisretiredmayhave more time andtherefore listentothe
radioa lotmore than a 16-25 yearold.
Lots of people (more thanhalf of all participantssaidthattheyalsolistento
musicon Spotify.Thismaybe a popularalternative forlisteningtomusicdue
to the fact that there isno advertsor talkingfromradiopresenters.
Individualsmayfindthismore beneficial astheycanlistentoany songthey
wishto,downloadsongstolistentowhentheydon’thave dataor Wi-Fi,and
theydon’thave to listentoradioeditedsongswithnoswearing.