Public Radio Listeners Lead Engaged & Diverse Lives.

Scarborough Research released an analysis of California’s public radio listeners*, in conjunction with the Public Radio Development & Marketing Conference (PRDMC) taking place July 14-15 in Los Angeles. The analysis finds that California’s public radio listeners have diverse interests, not limited to those traditionally associated with an upscale, affluent audience.

“California public radio listeners are 85 percent more likely than all Californians to have an annual household income of $250k or more. While this enables a wide variety of spending habits, the Scarborough analysis finds that the interests of this group go beyond traditional luxury,” said Howard Goldberg, senior vice president, radio services, Scarborough Research. “It is important for those who wish to leverage the public radio platform to understand the diverse tastes of this consumer group and not base programs on demographics alone.”

In the automotive category, California’s public radio listeners comprise some of the state’s highest spenders, but they purchase a wide spectrum of auto brands. This consumer group is 20 percent more likely than all Californians to plan to spend $30k or more on a new vehicle during the next year, and they are above average for owning or leasing of a wide variety of luxury vehicles, such as BMW, Jaguar, Saab and Audi. However, these consumers are also 11 percent more likely to currently own or lease a Honda; 23 percent more likely to currently own a Saturn, 82 percent more likely to currently own a Subaru, and 32 percent more likely to currently own a Volkswagen.

The same diversity exists in the beverage category. California’s public radio listeners are 13 percent more likely than all Californians to usually spend $20 or more per bottle of wine. However they are also 15 percent more likely to have consumed a beer during the past week.

“The Scarborough analysis supports the fact that public radio in California reaches listeners with varying interests in program content, ranging from news/talk and information to traditional music formats enjoyed by the general population,” said Alan Tobkes, manager, public radio services, Arbitron, Inc. “California Public Radio clients can use this analysis to talk directly to both current and prospective underwriters and together create an effective environment for the message to be delivered to listeners across the state.”

The Scarborough analysis also examined other aspects of California’s public radio listener:

• Active Lifestyles: California’s public radio listeners are among the most active people in the state, and enjoy both sun and snow. They are 31 percent more likely than all Californians to have gone biking or mountain biking during the past year, 49 percent more likely to have played tennis, 26 percent more likely to have golfed, 72 percent more likely to have gone hiking, and 25 percent more likely to have gone in-line skating. They also take advantage of the winter season, and are 89 percent more likely than all Californians to have going snow skiing and 24 percent more likely to have gone snow boarding. They are also 33 percent more likely to belong to a health/fitness club.

• Politics and Social Involvement: California’s public radio listeners are 29 percent more likely than all consumers in the state to have done volunteer work during the past year. They are 20 percent more likely to consider themselves Democrats. Avid news consumers, California public radio listeners are 27 percent more likely than all Californians to “typically watch” national network news on television and 36 percent more likely to typically watch news magazines.

• Music and The Arts: California public radio listeners enjoy a wide variety of leisure activities. On the cultural side, they are twice as likely as all Californians to have visited an art museum or to have attended a symphony concert or opera during the past year, and 50 percent more likely to have attended a dance or ballet performance. These consumers also have a wide variety of musical tastes. They are 10 percent more likely than all Californians to have attended a country music concert and 33 percent more likely to have gone to a rock show.

• Demographics: Fifty-three percent of California public radio listeners are men and 47 are percent women. California public radio listeners tend to be upper middle aged — they are 30 percent more likely than all Californians to be ages 45-54. These consumers are 55 percent more likely to have a home whose market value is more than $500k. Highly educated, almost one-quarter (23 percent) of California’s public radio listeners have a post graduate degree. They are almost three times as likely as all Californians to have this level of education.

• Internet: California’s public radio listeners are 61 percent more likely than all consumers in the state to spend 20 hours or more online weekly. They purchase a wide variety of goods online, both in well-established e-commerce categories and emerging ones. For example, California’s public radio listeners are 65 percent more likely than all Californians to have purchased airline tickets online during the past year, and 72 percent more likely to have purchased books online. They are also 38 percent more likely to have purchased a vehicle online.

SOURCE: Scarborough Research, 2005. The data in this report is composed of a five market aggregate from the following California DMA®s: Fresno, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Francisco and San Diego which serves as a representative sample of the state of California. These DMA®s include 92 percent of the population of the state of California.