OTTAWA – Statistics Canada’s release yesterday of radio listenership data that’s a year old is the final one it will compile, the government’s numbers arm said.
This release (some of which we’ve quoted below for old time’s sake…) was based on a survey of Canadians aged 12 and older. The radio project of the Culture Statistics Program was a joint endeavour of the CRTC, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and Statistics Canada. The basic radio listening data are provided by BBM Canada.
The last television viewing data were released on March 31, 2006, for the fall of 2004.
Radio listenership last year, showed continued erosion. In the fall of 2007, Canadians tuned in to their radios for 18.3 hours a week on average, compared with 18.6 hours in the previous year and 20.5 hours in 1999. Over the last decade, the average time per week Canadians have spent listening to their radio has fallen by about two hours.
Teenagers, always the toughest group to get, tuned in for only 7.2 hours a week in 2007, the lowest rate for all age groups. Senior women continued to be the medium’s most ardent fans, spending an average of 22.4 hours a week listening to the radio.
Radio listening fell in all provinces, except Prince Edward Island and Manitoba. Listening times varied between 20.9 hours a week in Prince Edward Island and 16.6 hours a week in British Columbia.
Overall, adult contemporary music continued to be the first choice of Canadians on the radio, accounting for nearly one-quarter (22.7%) of all listening time in 2007. This was followed by gold/oldies/rock music (14.3%), the CBC/Radio-Canada (12.4%) and talk radio, which represented about one-tenth of total radio listening time.
The CBC/Radio-Canada was the first choice among senior Canadians, capturing about one-quarter of their listening time. It was also the first choice among university graduates (30.0%), Canadians in professional occupations (23.4%) and skilled sales people (32.3%).
