l~!jj.'ll.J.;:),~'J I,.JL'" :, :''· ~~,\~.· .) ·' \ 'J RESElLtlCH WILLIAMSON HALL UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Office of Student Affairs STUDENT RADIO POLL Spring, 1972 by Jud lvkCarthy FM Radio Consultant Student Activities Bureau June 23, 1972 i I t' STUDENT RADIO POLL Spring, 1972 RESUME The purpose of this telephone survey was to ,~:·;:wide to the University information regarding student uti!izaHon of and attitudes toward Twin Cities area radio sl-atiors. In addition, students were asked to respond to a series of suestions rela!·ed to fee support for student in­ volvement in media: radio, television and film. A one percent sample of students regis~ered on the Twin Cities campus at the end of the second week of Winter Quarter, 1972, was interviewed by an independent telephone survey firm under the direction of Mrs. Bev­ erly Koser o Nearly ninety-four percent of the students indicated listening to the radio for at least some portion of each day, Sixty-five percent of the daily listeners listen f'o the radio while going to and from school o Only eighteen percent said they normally have the radio on while studying. Music was clearly the most popular rodio service among University stu­ dents, with nearly eighty-one percent indi eating music as their 11one favorite type of radio program or service" 0 News came in a poor second, 11 with only eight percent indicating news as their "favorite radio service o When students were asked ;o identify their "favorite radio station" KQRS­ t\M/FM was the clear preference o The KQRS response (31 .6%) was al­ most exactly equal to tlr:t or tho ne.od three s!·ations combined: weco + WDGY + KDWB (30 o8%). The largest number of studenL iis:cn to radio between supper and bedtime, with other listening poa~:s occurring between lunch and supper and "just before going to sleep". Studon::; are olso more likely to listen to radio 1 during the week than on ·;·he vm;c : -·end. Asked which types of music they preferred lo listen to on the radio, stu­ dents indicated the follov;ir.g c::.; th.:;ir :·op five choices:* 1) -lop LtQ. R,,OGK ! 56.4% 2) Popular, Middle-of the Road 44.2% 3) Prog;·essive Rock 40 o8% 4) Eas>' Listening, Sof:, Mood 40.5% 4) Folk iv\usic 40.5% 5) Classical 37,4% *lv\ultiple responses permitted so percentages total more than 100%. -2- Approximateiy ninety percent of the students expressed support for con­ tinuance of the current Fiv\ radio fee for some kind of telecommunications use. Over seventy-five percent were wi I ling to pay the fee for student controlled radio ancVor telecommunications services. Only nine percent wanted the fee discontinued, Sixty-four percent of the students said there was a need for a student operated FM radio station, and seventy-two percent of the students said that they would listen to such a station. The results of the survey must be interpreted in light of the fact that students sampled consisted of those who had local telephone numbers reported on their registration cards for Winter Quarter, 1972. -3- i\/1ETHODOLOGY The telephone survey form was drafted with assistance from Dr. Stanley Strong, the Director of Student Life Studies; Dr. Daniel Wackman, Director of the School of Journalism's Research Division; and, a com­ puter consultant 1 Dr. Douglas Anderson of Educational Psychology. The actual poll was conducted by an independent telephone polling agency directed by Mrs. Beverly 1\oser. Mrs. Koser was highly recom­ mended by Student liife Studies and has conducted telephone polls for the University in the past. Five drafts of the questionnaire were prepared. Drafts three and four were pretested by iv'trs. Koser and her associates. Based on an evalua­ tion of the pretests, the final form, draft five, was utilized in the survey. Admissions and Records generated a random sample of 728 student names based on their records of students registered by the end of the second week of Winter Quarter, 1972. From that list, 70 names were deleted because the students had only indicated hometown addresses and phone numbers which were out of the no toll call area of the Twin Cities. An additional 88 names were deleted because the students had indicated no local phone numbers on their registration form. After these deletions, the polling agency had a basic list of 570 names. (Winter quarter students ..· no longer in school Spring Quarter were not surveyed.) Of that number, 413 surveys were completed. This represents 57% of the total initial sam­ ple of 728 or 72% of the working sample of 570 names. 413 is approximate­ ly a one percent sampling of all students registered during Winter Quar- ter on the Twin Cities Campus. The poll was conducted during the week of April 2-8, 1972 which was the second week of Spring Quarter 1 1972. Mrs. Koser persona Uy veri­ fied ten percent of the interviews as a cross check on her own personnel. Two students were hired on a temporary basis to code the questionnaires for keypunching based on an ex post facto code developed through review of the returned questionnaires. Ten percent of the coded questionnaires were verified for cadi ng errors. following keypunch 1 the data was com pi led and analyzed at the Univer­ sity Computer Center using one of the University of lvHnnesota standard statistical analysis programs. SAMPLE In order to evaluate how closely the sample corresponds to the actual enrollment, six tables are presented below. In each case the actual percentage, based on the Winter Quarter, 1972, enrollment of the Twin Cities campus is given first, followed by the sample percentage and the raw number in the sample. The total enrollment for Winter Quarter, 1972, was 40, 178. Table 1 Sex Sex Total Enrollment Survey Sample Raw Number Male 61.54 61.26 253 Female 38.46 38.74 160 413 Table 2 Age Classification Age Range Total Enrollment Survey Sample Row Number 17-20 54.40 41.40 171 21-25 28.90 40.19 166 26-35 10.00 14.77 61 35-0ver 2.54 3.15 13 No Age Given 4.16 0.49 2 4f3 Table 3 Marital Status Status Total Enrollment Survey Sample Raw Number Married 22.16 24.95 103 Single 77.84 75 ,05* 310 m *Of this percentage in the sample, 0 .48% are widowed and 1.45% have been divorced. -5- Table 4 Place------- of Residence Residence Total Enrollment Survey Sample Raw Number At home with parents/relatives 32.13 38.98 161 Rent room/apartment 37. 11 38.74 160 University housing 11.94 8.72 36 Own/rent home 10.95 9.44 39 Other 7.87 4.12 17 413 Table 5 Class or Year Class/Year Total tnrollment Survey Sample Raw Number I Year 19.99 15.74 65 II Year 25.38 22.28 92 Ill Year 19.26 19.61 81 IV Year 18.96 24.46 101 Grad/Adult Special 16.41 15.25 63 Unknown/Uncertain 2.66 11 413 Table 6 College Distribution College Total Enrollment Survey Sample Raw Number Business Admin. 3.08 3.87 16 Veterinary Mod. 0.76 0.48 2 Dentistry L 19 1 .45 6 Dental Hygiene 0.33 0.48 2 Education 6.15 10.17 42 lnst. of Tech. 9.13 8.96 37 Graduate School 13.43 9.93 41 Law School L94 1.21 5 Biological Sciences 0.31 0.97 4 Medicine 2.02 3.87 16 Nursing 0.53 1.21 5 Pharmacy 0.75 0.97 4 CLA 40.00 41.16 170 University College 0.77 0.73 3 AFHE 8.36 7.26 30 General College 8.48 5.08 21 Other (Uncertain/ 2,77 2.18 9 Unknown) i.l13 -6- RESULTS The following pages contain the statistical data compiled through tabulation of the survey results. No interpretation or cross cor­ relations of the data have been attempted. Each reader may draw his or her own conclusions as to the significance of the findings. Q .1: On a typical day, how much time do you spend listening to the radio? Raw % Response 27 6.54 No time* 264 63.92 Less than two hours 96 23.24 2 hours but less than 4 hours 26 6.30 More than 4 hours 4T3 Q .2: Music, news, sports and weather are among the most common types of radio service. Please tell me whether each one is IMPORTANT to you or not. Raw % Response 367 95.08 Music IS important 18 4.66 lviusic fSNOT important 1 0.26 Other -- 386* 161 41.71 Sports IS important 223 57.77 Sports fSNOT important 2 0.52 Other -- 386 323 83.68 News IS important 61 15.80 News fSNOT important 2 0.52 Other -- 386 289 74.87 Weather IS important 96 24.87 Weather fSNOT important 1 0.26 Other -- 386 *Students who indicated in response to question one that they did not listen to the radio at all were not asked to respond to questions 2-17 which dealt specifically with radio listening habits and preferences. This reduced the sample base to 386 for this series of questions. -7- Q .3: Are there any other radio programs or services (other than music, news, weather and sports) which you consider to be IMPORTANT? Raw % Response 284 70.65 No 3 0.75 Don 1 t Know/ Not Sure 4 LOO Advertising 1 0.25 Classical Music 1 0.25 Comedy and Humor 2 0.50 Commentary 5 1.24 Community Service 1 0.25 Cultural Programs 8 1.99 Discussions 1 0.25 Documentaries 2 0.50 Educational Programs 7 1.74 Emergency Services 3 0.75 Ethnic Programs 1 0.25 Information 1 0.25 Instructional Service 4 1.00 Interviews 1 0.25 Jazz 3 0.75 Lectures 11 2.74 Listener Participation Programs 1 0.25 Live Events--Remotes 1 0.25 Miscellaneous 2 0.50 Music Discussion and Analysis 1 0.25 News 1 0.25 News Analysis 2 0.50 News in Depth 3 0.75 News Specials 1 0.25 Non-commercial Radio 2 0.50 Old Radio Programs 1 0.25 Old Songs--Oldies 4 1.00 Old Time /v'1usic 2 0.50 Plays 1 0.25 Poetry 1 0.25 Public Affairs 7 L74 Public Service 1 0.25 Public Broadcasting System (NPR) 4 LOO Religious Programs 2 0.50 School Closings 1 0.25 Specials 1 0.25 Sports Play-by-play 1 0.25 Sports Interview 1 0.25 Stock f\/1arket Reports 12 2.99 Talk Shows 1 0.25 Time 3 0.75 Traffic Reports 402* *Totals more than base of 386 because some students offered more than one response to this question.