Radio listening

The radio listening habits of Canadians changed substantially between 1995 and 2004, falling by 90 minutes a week on average. They were also listening to less radio in the home, but more in the car and at work.

On average, Canadians spent 19.5 hours per week listening to radio in the fall of 2004, the same number of hours as in the previous year, but one-and-a-half hours less than a decade earlier.

In the fall of 2004, Canadians spent 49% of their listening time in their homes, down from 56% in 1995.

On the other hand, they spent 27% of their listening time in their cars, up from only 22%. And they spent 23% of their listening time at work, up from 20% in 1995.

Men aged between 18 and 34 spent the least amount of time listening to radio in the home. Only 26% of their total listening time was in the home, compared with 37% for women in that age group.

During the week, the greatest proportion of radio listening in the home occurred in the early morning hours between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. At work, the majority listened between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. And in the car, listeners tuned in mainly during rush-hour commutes to and from work in the morning and evening.

Gap between adult and teen listening continues to widen

Radio still has very little appeal for teenagers. In the fall of 2004, they tuned in for only 8.5 hours a week, the least amount of time devoted to the medium by any age group.

In addition, the gap between adult listening time and teen listening time continued to widen. In 1995, adults listened 10 hours a week more than teens. In the fall of 2004, this had widened to 12 hours.

Over the last five years, adults reduced their listening time by close to one hour per week, while among teenagers the decline amounted to nearly three hours per week.

Young adults aged between 18 and 24 had the second shortest listening time, only 15.7 hours a week. Women aged 65 and over spent the most time listening to the radio, at an average of 23.6 hours per week.

Provincially, Prince Edward Island residents spent the most time listening to the radio, with an average of 21.2 hours per week, followed by Newfoundland and Labrador, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

Residents of British Columbia continued to report the lowest radio listening times in the country (17.8 hours per week).

CBC popular with university graduates

Adult contemporary music continued to dominate, accounting for one-quarter of adult listening time, followed by gold/oldies/rock (15.3%) and CBC Radio (11.1%).

The proportion of public radio listening increased with education and with age. In fact, the CBC was the first choice in radio for respondents with university degrees. The situation was reversed in the case of country music stations.

Seniors aged 65 and over spent 22% of their listening time tuned to the CBC, compared with only 2% among young adults.

The choice of format varied between provinces. Country music was the first choice in Prince Edward Island, Saskatchewan and Alberta, while adult contemporary music dominated in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario.

Very low listenership for French-language AM stations

There has been a phenomenal increase in FM station audiences in the last two decades. Until 1990, the proportion of AM station listeners, although decreasing, still surpassed those for FM stations.

In the fall of 1991, the two bands shared listener proportions equally, but this was followed by a remarkable increase in FM stations listenership. By the fall of 2004, fully 75% of Canadians were tuning into the FM band, largely due to the better sound quality and the transfer of many stations from the AM to the FM band.

In terms of broadcast language, French-language AM stations accounted for only 9% of all AM station listening. In contrast, French-language FM stations accounted for 26% of all FM station listening.

According to the CRTC, financial results for French-language AM stations reflect this listening situation. Revenues of French-language AM stations fell 13.2% between 2003 and 2004, while English-language AM radio revenues remained relatively stable.

Meanwhile, the revenues of French-language FM stations fell by 3.4% and those of English-language FM stations rose 5.5%.

FM stations are very popular among younger people but their popularity gradually decreases as age increases. Men and women aged 65 and over preferred AM stations.

This may partly be due to the fact that there is more talk radio on AM stations, which is the most popular format among older people.

Available on CANSIM: tables 503-0001 to 503-0005.

Definitions, data sources and methods: survey number 3153.

Selected details from the Radio Listening Survey are now available online in the publication Radio Listening: Data Tables (87F0007XIE, free). Data from this survey are also available by province. Users can request special tabulations on a cost-recovery basis.

To obtain more information, order data or enquire about the methods, concepts or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (telephone: 1 800 307-3382 or 613-951-7608; fax: 613-951-9040; cult.tourstats@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.