Abstract:

The paper examines the relationship between CBC radio programs' audience size (as measured by BBM estimates of share) and audience qualitative appreciation (as measured by qualitative indices or QI's in the CBC's annual Qualitative Radio Study). The analysis shows that there clearly is a relationship between a program's share and listeners' level of enjoyment; programs with larger audiences tend to be more enjoyed by those who listen in, those programs with smaller audiences generally have lower QFs. There are of course exceptions to the general rule and these are what are of particular concern and form the basis of future research. The paper is divided into four sections: an introduction outlining the nature of concern for meaningful measurement of audience reaction to public service programming, including some background on CBC Radio's traditional approach to measuring program enjoyment; a methodology section explaining the annual survey of listeners on which program enjoyment measures are based  the Qualitative Radio Study (QRS), and the nature of the current analysis; results of the analysis of the relationship between audience share and program enjoyment; and, a conclusion with some thoughts about measurements of audience reaction to radio programs. There is also an appendix with details of correlation analysis used in the study.