Matters of Opinion: Expectations and Perceptions of Standards in Talkback Radio, 2011

1 June 2011

Date published: June 2011

Research Company: Nielsen

Qualitative and quantitative research project exploring expectations listeners have of broadcasting standards in relation to radio
Phase 1 – Review of Panorama data
Phase 2 – Focus groups (regular listeners of talkback radio) in Auckland and Wellington with 20 participants
Phase 3 – Survey of 503 regular listeners of talkback radio supplemented with two questions of non-listeners in Nielsen’s Omnibus survey

Talkback enthusiasts (most frequent listeners) are more likely to be male, over 60 years of age, retired and heavy consumers of radio in general
Enthusiasts are more likely to listen between midnight and 6am, an otherwise unpopular time for listening. Lunch time and evening time slots are also less popular time slots
The most common places to listen are at home or in a motor vehicle, and the station most likely to be listened to is Newstalk ZB
Listeners are attracted to talkback radio because of the different perspectives gained from the range of opinions represented, the entertainment it provides and the stimulating discussion

Three in every ten listeners attempt to participate in the discussion, but on an infrequent basis (majority call less than once or twice a month). Talkback enthusiasts are more likely to have called in an attempt to participate in the discussion
Around one in six listeners end up participating in the discussion
The main reasons for not calling are that listeners simply enjoy listening to others discuss the topics, or that they think someone with a similar point of view will call

When benchmarked against other radio broadcasts (news and current affairs/documentaries), greater leniency is expected for talkback radio for all areas of broadcasting standards
Standards around accuracy are of most importance to talkback listeners, and a role for both hosts and callers was identified in maintaining standards in this area
However, overall there is a greater expectation on hosts than callers for maintaining standards
When played back to respondents, content involving host’s poor treatment of callers was more likely to be considered a breach in standards
Talkback enthusiasts are less likely to consider content of this nature a breach in standards, suggesting that the more one listens to talkback radio the more accustomed one is to this type of content

RESEARCH AND REPORTS NGĀ RANGAHAU ME NGĀ PŪRONGO