Community radio hits listenership high with 5.7m listeners every week

Australian community radio listening has hit a new record height – 5.7 million listeners per week.

This is the highest national listenership on record and a 10% increase compared to the last survey wave in January 2018.

Community radio was drawing just 1 million listeners in 2006.

Jon Bisset, the Community Broadcasting Association of Australia (CBAA)’s chief executive officer said these results reinforced the value that Australians place on community radio services and their role in sharing local news and information, as well as Australian and specialist music.

“These results reflect community radio’s role as a vital and growing part of the Australian media landscape,” he said.

“They are a testament to the incredible work of the 450+ stations across the country which support and broadcast local content and public interest journalism, provide a voice for diverse Australian communities and support our vibrant music and arts sectors.”

The Community Radio National Listener Survey is conducted by McNair yellowSquares on behalf of the CBAA.

It is a survey of the community radio listening habits of Australians through a hybrid telephone and online survey of a representative sample of 15,000 Australians over the age of 15 across all states and territories.

To find out more information about listeners in each state, city, or region, get the tree area fact sheet at https://www.cbaa.org.au

In the meantime, the CBAA’s 2018 conference  on the Gold Coast (November 8— 10) has added CBF grants and music programming to its sessions program.

Jo Curtin, executive officer of the Community Broadcasting Foundation will lead a panel on how grants can create compelling content, grow audiences and connect deeper with communities.

Andrew Khedoori, CBAA’s Amrap manager and 2ser music director leads a session on treading the thin path between global and local backyard interests, making the music flow, and catering for a diverse community.