radio listening in denmark

Radio Listening in DenmarkAuthor(s): Torben AgersnapSource: Acta Sociologica, Vol. 1, No. 2 (1956), pp. 120-148Published by: Sage Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4193445 .

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Radio Listening in Denmark

by Torben Agersnap

When we know that "Danmarks Radio" was organized as a government mono- poly as early as 1926, that Denmark has the third largest radio coverage in the world, and that since the early thirties the annual number of broadcast hours have been about 5000, it may seem strange that not until the last few years has any systematic research been made of the different listener groups, their daily habits, their possibilities of listening, and the actual listening to the broadcasts. But, nevertheless, such is the case. Only with the introduction of the programmeter and the accomplishment of the herein mentioned research work have we in this country been able to find a solution to these problems.

Formerly the Radio's contact and acquaintance with its audience was mainly effected through organized listeners' associations. Meetings have been held all over the country, and the associations have had representatives on the programme committee of the Radio. However, at best, these contact possibilities have enabled the Radio to gain information only about the organized listeners who at no time con- stituted more than two fifths of the listening public (cf. table 1), and can hardly be regarded as representing the entire population. The very inclination of these people to organize and the lack of interest in organization with the other listeners characterize the two groups as being essentially different. Hence it may justly be inferred that this difference of opinion will hold good in other respects. More- over, it may justly be questioned whether the officials of the listeners' associations can possibily be familiar with the background and opinions of their members without applying more scientific methods. When we bear in mind that the two largest listeners' associations represent the Labour movement and religious denominations, respectively, there is every probability that they are primarily interested in what the listeners in the name of the true faith ought to think and do, not so much in what they actually undertake and feel.

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Besides, the listeners' views on the broadcasts have on several occasions been learned from the so-called listeners' votings. The first time in connection with licence payment in 1927, subsequently arranged by the listeners' associations. The listener is here asked whether he wants more or less of the various programmes or wants them continued as they are.

Table 1: Total number registered listeners in Denmark and total number of members in Danish listener organisations 1930-54 (000 omitted).

1930 1934 1938 1946 1950 1954

reg. listeners ...................... 340 548 705 969 1163 1340

labour org ....... . 26 72 122 93 127 144 religious org. 27 54 83 73 117 122 other org. 58 81 95 74 88 91

total 111 207 300 240 322 357 in % of ......................... 33 38 43 25 28 27

The listener here expressed his preference with regard to known alternatives, but nobody can know whether he might prefer something entirely different if it where put on the programme. He himself can visualize no such possibilities,l) or he is unable to realise the technical difficulties involved in effecting these possibilities. Finally it should be mentioned that the very programme designation may elicit from the listener a reaction different from the one he would have expressed had he heard the broadcast.2)

These two possibilities of contacting the listeners, the associations and the votings, have thus been able to give but a very incomplete picture of public opinion and none whatsoever of the listeners' activities. This to a great extent also applies to the listeners' letter-bag.

Hence this new research work is particularly interested in the listeners' daily activities, their personal qualifications for listening, and their actual listening to the broadcasts. These facts may be ascertained with comparatively great accuracy and, so long as these extrinsic circumstances are insufficiently elucidated, an effort in this direction gives promise of greater results than would arise from an opinion

1) At a contest arranged by one of our great weeklies among its readers for the best suggestion for a day's radio programme, it turned out that all answers stuck very dose to the existing programme, and contained suggestions for minor amendments only.

2) see Geiger, Th.: A Radio Test of Musical Taste, Publ. Op. Quart. 1950, p. 453-460.

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poll which possibly would amount to no more than a demonstration of the listeners' verbal preferences, while listeners' activities remain unknown.

Seen in the light of the problems of the general communication theory which may be summarized as follows,3)

1) between whom does communication take place a) who sends b) who receives

2) when and for how long does communication take place; hour distribution. 3) what channels are used 4) the nature and contents of the communication 5) contact disturbancies 6) effects and results of the contact

we have in the new research work paid particular attention to the problems under ib, 2, and 4. - Also the other problems have been dealt with, but not to the same extent.

The following will show, first a brief outline of the Danish broadcast system containing answers to the questions under la and 3 of the above summary.

The next paragraph contains an analysis of the programmes of the Danish Radio and is thus a partial answer to 4. We learn what is sent, but not what is received.

This is dealt with in the fifth passage; but in between, in the fourth passage, an analysis has been made of the listeners' possibilities and qualifications for listening, the potential radio audience.

2. THE SYSTEM OF BROADCASTING IN DENMARK.

As mentioned above, all broadcasting in Denmark is under the control of a government institution.4) Its management is in the hands of the Radio Council made up of 16 members of whom

3 are appointed by the Government 5 are appointed by the Rigsdag (Parliament) 2 are appointed by organisations of the Press, and 6 are elected by the listeners' associations.

3) Berelsen, Bernard and Paul Lazarsfelcl: The Analysis of Communication Content. Univ. of Chicago, mimeographed 1948. Torben Agersnap: Analyse af gruppekontakter (Analysis of Group Interaction) Det Danske Marked No. 3, 1954.

4) Broadcasting Act, March 21st 1930 with amendments and supplement in Act of March 30th 1946.

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Their term of office is 4 years. The Council lays down the general principles

for the activity of the Radio, and is responsible for the comprehensive, educational,

and informatory nature of the broadcasts. For each period the Council appoints

its own executive committee and programme committee. The latter consists of eight

members of the Radio Council and eight specially nominated experts. This com-

mittee supervises all programmes in outline prior to broadcasting and submits

the more important ones to a critical scrutiny after the broadcasting.5)

The daily management, aside from the technical, is in the hands of a director

and nine department heads, all appointed by the Ministry of Education. The

director and the department heads attend the meetings of the Programme Com-

mittee, but have no vote.5)

To defray the expenses of the Radio an annual fee of (at present) kr. 20,- for

each receiving set is collected. This revenue, abt. 20 mill. kroner, covers the ex-

penditures of the Radio and any excess will be set aside for purely broadcasting

purposes. No commercial advertising is allowed.

At the time when the material for the present research was collected (1950)

Fig. 1.Service Areas of the Danish Rtadio. 5) Ree, Knud: Nogle oplysninger, Tidsskrift for Radio No. 4 1949. (Informatory Notes,

Radio journal, etc.).

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there was but one programme in the Danish Radio. Three transmitters were in use with total power of 140 kw., sufficient for a 100 % coverage of the country (see fig. 1), thus enabling every owner of a receiver to listen to the programmes of the Danish Radio.6)

The licence fee system has made it feasible to ascertain the exact number of listeners in the various parts of the country, and fig. 2 will show the coverage in

00- QO.9

Fig. 2. Number of registered Radio Sets per Household, 1950.

6) Since 1951 the Radio broadcasts two programmes and the number of transmitters has been increased.

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1950. For each police precinct we have figured out a coverage percent, viz., number of registered receiving sets divided by number of households multiplied by 100. Auto-radios are not included, just as, for obvious reasons, the number of listeners (abt. 10 %) who in violation of the law fail to pay a licence fee is not accounted for. From this chart it will be seen that practically every household in the country owns a receiving set, provided that only relatively few have registered more than one set (estimated at abt. 12.000).

The licence registration, which is available all the way back to 1926, also enables us to investigate the dissemination of this cultural factor in terms of time, place, and social dass. Here, however, we shall not embark upon this subject, but only refer to fig. 3 in which the coverage for each year since 1926 is shown separately for Copenhagen (100 % urban population), the islands excl. Copenhagen (50- 80 % urban population), and Jutland (30-50 % urban population).

,0r,number of radiosets oer houschold

4,9

old

0,7

a4

0,5f

/~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~3 17J /4 <e SV

pr.4-X927 29 .31 33 35 37 3.9 41 43 45 47 49 5/ 53

Fig. 3. Number of registered Radio Sets per Household in Copenhagen ( ), the islands excl. Copenhagen ( ), and Jutland (-.-.-).

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The diagram seems to indicate that the coverage has increased on a logarithmic curve. Moreover, we find here a new confirmation of the sociological theories of a timelag between the dissemination of cultural benefits in towns and in the country.

The data in fig. 3 are from a recent Danish research into the demand for new wireless sets.7) It is included here among other reasons to show how the research of economics into the marketing of the various consumer goods may also be of cultural sociological interest

3. CONTENT OF PROGRAMMES.

Having thus established the fact that from a technical point of view it should be possible for all Danish listeners to listen to the broadcasts of the Danish Radio

we shall by way of introduction have a look at the content of programmes broadcast by the Danish Radio.

For this purpose we have prepared in table 2 an illustration of the distribution

Table 2: Content of program7nef broadcast by the Danish Radio 1934-55.

1934/35 1938/39 1942/43 1946/47 1950/51 1953/54

operas, musical comedies 2 4 4 4 4

vocal/instrumental solos 5 8 6 8

entertainment music etc. 45 40 36 34 25

total music % .53 52 51 48 45 41

news 6 7 8 11 10 15

talks, lectures, discussions 12 12 13 9 9 11

morning gymnastics 5 4 6 6 5 4

religious service, prayers 5 5 6 5 5 4

recitations 3 3 4 4 4 5

running commentaries, relay of meetings .2 3 3 4 4 5

meteorological reports .3 4 - 3 4 4

school broadcasts .2 2 2 - 4 3

dramas .2 4 4 3 3 3

language lessons .4 3 3 3 2 *2

other broadcasts .3 1 0 4 5 8

total %.100 100 100 100 100 100

total hours ................. 4885 5064 4571 4700 5156 5847

7) Rasmussen, Arne, and Max KjTr Hansen: Eftersp0rgselen efter radioer i Danmark (De- mand for New Radio Sets in Denmark). Copenhagen 1954.

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of the various broadcasts over the total broadcast hours.8) The analysis of content has been made to that, where ever possible, each broadcast has been divided up into its individual components. Such division, however, is not possible in the case of features, montages, and certain entertainments, which therefore are listed under "miscellaneous". No departmental classification has been made, and no attention has been paid to classification of listeners to whom the broadcast may be of special appeal. Thus, special broadcasts for children and women, gramophone programmes, etc., have been treated in line with other broadcasts.

This table gives the immediate impression that the stmcture of the programme of the Danish Radio has changed but little during the years. Even for the year 1953/54, when double programme had been introduced, the distribution on the different broadcasts showed no great deviation from previous years.

Music's share in the total broadcast hours has dedined somewhat during recent years, and it is quite interesting to note that Light Music is the one that has been curtailed. The Danish Radio follows here a line of evolution which runs contrary to that of many commercial stations abroad.

The News service has taken over one half of the time surrendered by Music, the balance being evenly distributed among the other programmes.

Table 3: Hourly Order of Programme Distribution in 1950.

Hours 6-12 12-14 14-17 17-19 19-22 22-22,30

Music ....................... 23 77 54 27 44 58

Lectures ..................... 3 - 14 11 15 7

Instruction .37 - 2 8 - 2 News .19 11 1 38 9 22

Religious Service .15 - 6 1

Recitation ................... 11 7 10 4 3

Drama ..................... - - 1 - 8

Current Reports, transmission I 1 6 2 12 5

Miscellaneous .2 - 9 3 8 3

Total in pct.100o 100 100 100 100 100

The distribution of broadcasting hours among the different broadcasts during the day (in 1950, i. e. prior to double programme) will be seen from table 3. But we might possibly get an even better illustration of the daily programmes of the Danish Radio by looking at a few examples. Table 4 shows a reprint of the pro-

8) cf. Albig, William; Public Opinion. New York 1939 p.

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Figure 4. Programmes broadcast by the Danish Radio, Thursday 23rd, Saturday 25th and

Sunday 26th February 1950 slightly altered.

Hours Thursday 23rd Saturday 25th Sunday 26th

6,15 news news 6,50 ships' positions ships' positions 7,00 morning exercise morning exercise 7,15 morning exercise morning exercise 7,35 entertainment music entertainment music 7,57 two minutes for the tvo minutes for the

housewives housewives 8,00 news news news 8,05 entettainment music entertainment music morning exercise 8,25 entertainment music entertainment music lecture to farmers 8,30 morning service morning service lecture to farmers 8,35 morning service morning service lecture 8,45 weather report weather report weather report 9,00 morning exercise morning exercise entertainmnent music 9,15 schoolbroadcast schoolbroadcast entertainment music 9,55 - talk

10,00 - -ass 10,15 schoolbroadcast schoolbroadcast mitass 11,15 schoolbroadcast schoolbroadcast lecture in French 11,35 - lecture in Swedish 11,45 weather report veather report weather report 12,00 poem of the day poem of the day light music 12,10 light music light music light music 12,30 news news news 12,40 light music light music light music 14,00 short story reading piano solo religious service 14,20 popular music popular music religious service 14,40 cello music short story reading religious service 15,00 light music light music lecture in English 15,30 vocal solo light music Joh. Seb. Bach 16,10 talk for housewives talk for housewives poetry reading 16,20 childrens program childrens program musical pot-pourri 17,10 weather report weather report musical pot-pourri 17,20 shippinginformation shippinginformation musical pot-pourri 17,30 market prices market prices short story reading 17,40 feature short story read. childrens progran 18,00 German for beg. talk about music childtens program 18,15 German for adv. talk about music shippinginformation 18,25 English for beg. talk about music weather report 18,40 the evenings programn the evenings program the evenings progr-am 18,45 news ntews news

19,00 . topical inform. topical inform. sports 19,15 feature story Sunday concert 19,40 feature light music Sunday concert 20,00 grand orchestra short story reading Sunday concert 20,30 grand orchestra feature discussion 21,00 grand orchestra variety variety 21,50 talk variety variety 22,00 news news news 22,15 light music musical causerie musical competition 23,00 jazz music modern dance music modern dance music 23,30 the end the end the end

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grammes for Thursday, 23rd Febr., Saturday, 25th Febr., and Sunday, 26th Febr. 1950.9) Those items that recur regularly on Sundays, or on all week-days, are printed in italics, and show that not only taken year by year, but also day by day, the structure of the programme of the Danish Radio has been very constant. It has been easy for the listeners to find the various items on the programme and arrange their day accordingly, just as, naturally, every effort was made to adapt the programme to the imagined rythm of the listeners' day. Now, these many years after the introduction of this programme structure we can establish only the result of this reciprocity as we find it to-day. This gives a basis for analyzing the effect of another cultural factor, such as television's influence on the population's daily timetable.

4. POTENTIAL RADIO AUDIENCE.

The material for research into the listeners' qualifications and possibilities for listening was gathered in 1950.10) During the early part of February a questionnaire was sent out to 26.000 households, selected at random from the licence files of the Danish Radio. Nearly 13.000 questionnaires were returned, representing abt. 27.000 persons over 15 years of age. All information was transferred to punched cards through markesensing and tabulated. A comparison of occupational distribution in the capital, the three largest provincial cities, the other provincial towns, and the rural districts for persons in this material, and for the entire population within the same areas, shows good conformity between the two distribu- tions. Farmers and unoccupied people are slightly underrepresented, and the other occupations slightly overrepresented. A similar comparison of distribution of replies and the population according to occupation and position, separate for men and women, shows that workmen and unoccupied people are slightly underrepresented and the groups Businessmen and Employees are slightly overrepresented, but on the whole the material must be termed satisfactory. Besides, the information has been rubricated in such a way as to facilitate corrections in the bias of the material, if any.

The questionnaire to the listeners was framed in the same way as the one used

o) cf. figs. 9 and 0o. 10) The research work was started at the Institute of Social Research, University of Arhus,

with professor Th. Geiger in charge, and finished under my direction at the Office of Organisation and Industrial Sociology, Copenhagen School of Economics and Business Administration. Collaborators at the research were Mr. Hans Rude, programme secretary of the Danish Radio and the following university students: Poul Buch, Ruben Karstoft, Vemer Clausen Koch, Peter Elgaard Mikkelsen, Vagn S0rensen, Karsten Tolderlund, and Jacob Tuxen.

129



for the Danish census. It asks questions about (see enclosure): 1) name, 2) sex, 3) when born, 4) household position, 5) occupation, 6) line of business, 7) working hours, 8) bedtime Monday-Friday, 9) Saturdays, 10) Sundays, 11) when they get up Monday-Saturday, 12) Sundays, 13) when they have breakfast Mon- day-Saturday, 14) Sundays, 15) when they have their mid-day meal Monday- Friday, 16) Saturdays, 17) Sundays, 18) evening meals Monday-Friday, 19) Satur- days, 20) Sundays, 21) whether they are regularly engaged outside the house on any evening during the week, 22) when they are at home Monday-Friday, 23) Saturdays, 24) Sundays, and finally a few questions about the apartment and hours, if any, when the housewife thinks herself prevented from listening. All replies in the returns were distinct and clear.

Two weeks after sending out the questionnaire we arranged an interview with a representative body of listeners in a large provincial city (Arhus), a smaller provincial town (Varde), and four rural districts. For economic reasons no interviews were arranged in Copenhagen. The period of interviews extended over two weeks, and a little over 5000 persons in abt. 2200 households were interviewed. The distribution of these people by sex, age, matrimonial position, and occupation is practically the same as the corresponding one for the entire population over 15 years of age in the research districts. The number of interviewees between 15 and 24 has not been quite sufficient, and married couples are slightly overrepresented. This may probably be ascribed to the fact that the former group will be difficult to find at home, whereas the opposite applies to the latter.

On the questionnaire was printed the Radio programme for the day preceding that of the interview and a time table from 5 a. m. till 12 p. m. During the interview we tried to find out for each thirty minutes and each broadcast just where and occupied with what the person in question might be (incl. listening to the radio (Danish or foreign stations)). On the back of the questionnaire were a number of questions pertaining to the listeners' qualifications for listening, their education, their linguistic proficiency, etc. These questions were uniformly asked of everybody, whereas those on the front naturally would depend on the programme for the day preceding the interview.

The same listeners were questioned in September in order to find out whether there might be any seasonal variation in the listeners' activity. Abt. 20 % could not be interviewed again, and the material for September consequently comprises only about 4000 interviewed persons. The defection seems to have been greatest in the 50-65 years age group, but otherwise evenly distributed on the social groups.

When we chose to inquire into the listeners' daily routine through the original questionnaire and also during the interviews in February we did so in order to be able to check up on the information given in the questionnaire on this subject. The number of people at home, as stated in the questionnaire, is somewhat higher

130



than the one ascertained during the interviews, simply due to the fact that in answer-

ing the questionnaire people could not properly account for the various scattered

evenings when they were not at home, whereas during the interview these were

satisfactorily registered. When analysing this material we made out for each group of the population

three diagrams (see fig.), viz., at the top the order of the days from Monday till

Friday, next for Saturdays, and at the bottom for Sundays. The hours from 5 a. m.

till 12 p. m. are marked out along the horizontal axis, and along the vertical axis have been marked out the percentual figures for "getting up" and "to bed" curves, and the "at home and up" curves. The "getting up" and "to bed" curves are the S-shaped curves that demarcates the chequered section at the sides. These two curves indicate in per cent how many persons of the group in question are up at the different hours. The "at home and up" curves demarcate the chequered section below. They indicate how great a portion of the group in question is at home and up at the hours stated. The chequered section itself is a graphic expression for the part of the group that is outside the home at the various hours.

A 0 2 MondayS- Saturdays

5 7 a9l11121711516 171 9 g2. 21 22 223

Fig. 5. Daily routine for farmers.

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This treatment of the material supplies us with essential information about the listening potentialities of the various groups of the population. Through this information as to when people get up and go to bed we arrive at a first "negative" rubrication because we then know when people are asleep and consequently unable to listen. Some people, however, may be listening though in bed, a fact which may cause a presumably insignificant error.

It being known, moreover, that practically everybody has a wireless in his home we arrive through this information about the sleeping and waking habits of the population at a closer estimate of the numbers of potential listeners. Two things, however, must be noted in this connection. Firstly, the very fact that a person is at home does not necessarily mean that he is able to listen. He may be so occupied that listening is incompatible with his work. But for most people the arrangement of the domestic work is so flexible that only in very few instances will their housework prevent them from listening if there is a broadcast to their liking.

Secondly it must be noted that by now many people have a wireless at their place of employment. This means that the number of potential listeners is greater than the "at home and up" curves indicate. These facts work at cross purposes. It has not been possible through the material at hand to find out to which should be attached the greater importance.

Tle analysis of information about the daily routine has been carried out in the following manner: first the entire material has been classified according to occupation, and next, within each occupational group, according to sex, age, and residence (town - country). Then a comparison has been made of the daily routine for groups the constitution of which, but for a single factor, is alike, and in this way we tried to find out just how great importance may be attached to this one factor.

The main result of this analysis seems to be that occupational connection appears to be of vital importance to the daily rythm of the different classes of people."1)

If we take the population as a whole, we find that there is a great difference between rural and urban daily routine, but if we compare people of identical occupation in town and country this difference is found to be but slight. Similarly, in the case of men and women, and the different age groups, we find that occupation is the most prominent cause of differences in the daily routine.

A detailed analysis of the daily routine for a number of occupational groups has therefore been prepared. Rubrication of the groups has been effected by first drawing a day curve for a great number of occupational groups. Next the occupations whose curves were nearly congruent were gathered in main groups, each with its

11) cf. Agersnap, Torben: Tidsanalyser af personaktivitet (Time Studies of Hwnan Behavior). Det Danske Marked No. 4, 1954, and Nos. 1 and 3, 1955.

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0-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~7

Fig. 6a. Daily routine for the -\

entire population, Monday- Friday.

.5 6 7 j fo ff _fl ?fZtJ f s 95 69 9 v 2s 29 22 2.32

Fig. 6b. Daily routine for the entire population, Saturdays. l

Fig. 6c. Daily routine for the entire population, Sundays.

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own characteristic daily routine. Thus we arrived at the following main occupational groups, viz.,

1. unoccupied persons

2. farm housewives

3. housewives whose husbands are working in the city

4. workmen at urban occupation in towns and rural districts

5. workmen in the capital

6. officials and civil servants

7. independent craftsmen and businessmen

8. farmers, small-holders, and farm-hands

We cannot here embark upon a lengthy discussion of the characteristics of the daily routine for these 8 main groups. Suffice to say that we have tried to compute a complete chart of the potential audience on Monday-Friday, on Saturdays, and on Sundays (see fig. 6). The computation has been made by way of summarizing the "at home and up" curves for the above 8 occupational groups after having weighed them against each group's share of the total population. These summarized curves are naturally encumbered with a relatively greater inaccuracy than is the original material, but we have thought that they would give a useful picture of the potential iudience throughout the day, a background for programme arrangement and for the appreciation of the listening figures for the different programmes.

We shall next consider the listeners' educational and cultural qualifications for listening.

All information about school education and continuation school is derived from the February interviews. The figures reveal that only a very small part of the population has more than seven years of schooling (primary school), in the country 5 pdt. and in the cities abt. 20 pct., and if we go so far as to find out how many have a university or similar higher education we arrive at 2 pct. in the country (the vicar, the schoolteacher, the chemist, the physician, and the veterinarian), and 5 pct. in the cities. On the other hand we find that a relatively large part of the population have availed themselves of the continuation school facilities, either by visiting a folk high school or attending vocational schools or continuation schools; in the country abt. 50 pct., and in the cities abt. 25 pct. The folk high schools are almost exdusively frequented by the rural population, whereas the vocational schools are patronized by country folk and city folk alike. On the whole, men are better educated than women.

The linguistic qualifications of those interviewed will appear from table 4.

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Table 4: The relative number of persons interviewed possessing knowledge of

English, German, French or Russian.

Large provin- Small provin- Rural cial city cial town districts

numnber of persons interviewed 2663 1315 1121

in pct. with knowledge of

English Beginners .21 18 4

Advanced .18 15 4

German Beginners .24 19 3

Advanced .18 18 4

French Beginners .8 8 1

Advanced ............... 4 2 0

Russian Beginners .0 0

Advanced o

Only such main languages have been taken into consideration as form part of the Danish Radio's instruction in languages as we must take it for granted that every Dane has at least rudimentary knowledge of the other Scandinavian languages. The per cent figures for the four languages cannot simply be added up, inasmuch as some people know more than one language. In the cities abt. 50 pct. know at least one of the main languages, whereas in the country the linguists constitute but 12 pct. of the population. English and German are the best known languages in town and country; few know French, and the knowledge of Russian is insignificant (abt. 1-2 %0).

The material is grouped in Beginners and Advanced according to people's own statement. In all groups the Beginners are in slight majority; this holds good especially for French.

The listeners' musical qualifications and interest in music are illustrated in table 5, which is based on the February interviews when the fQllowing three questions were asked:

Have you taken lessons in music? (if YES, what kind?)

Are you a member of any musical society, choir, orchestra, or the like?

How many gramophone records have you (12" and 10") ?

The wording of the 3rd question was based on the assumption that 12" records are predominantly serious music.

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Table 5. The relative number of persons interviewed who hate taken lessons in musfic, are

members of a musical society, choir, or orchestra, or are owners of gramnopthone records.

Large provin. Small provin- Rural cial city cial town districts

piano ............. 23 17 8

violin .6 6 4

vocal 3 1 2

other music lessons.6 6 6

no music lessons 67 74 83

member of society, choir or orchestra 7 6 2

no such membership 93 94 98

12" Records 28 22 7

10" Records 13 8 1

No Records .68 75 92

Number of persons interviewed in pct. 100 100 100

Total number of persons interviewed . . 2663 1315 1121

What strikes one in table 5 is the difference in musical activity and interest in the cities and in the country. It would be imprudent, however, on the basis of these three questions to generalize and say that musical activity and interest are greater in town than in the country, but subsequent results of the research into the listening to music broadcasts seem to bear out this impression.

Finally, in order to find out to what extent the listeners are book-readers the following questions were asked during the February interviews:

Do you borrow books from the library?

Are you a member of a book club?

Have you had time to read any books since Christmas?

The third question was worded as mentioned in order to make it possible for the person interviewed to answer NO without any feeling of inferiority. The findings are revealed in table 6.

Slightly more than one third of the urban listeners and one fifth of the rural listeners are library card-holders, and about three fifths of the answers to the third question (have you read any books since Xmas?) were in the affirmative, i. e. they had read at least one book during January and February.

Book dubs on the other hand seem to be of minor importance for the po-

136



Table 6; The relative number of persons interviewed who are Library card holders,

Members of Book Clubs, and "Active" Readers, respectively.

Large provin- Small provin- Rural cial city cial town districts

Library Borrowers ......... ........ 38 38 20

Non-Borrowers .......... ......... 62 62 80

Members of Book Clubs 8 10 9

Non-members ..................... 92 90 91

"Active" Readers .......... ........ 58 62 58

"Non"-Readers .42 38 42

Number of persons interviewed in pct. 100 100 100

Total number of persons interviewed . . 2663 1315 1121

pulation's book supply, but when looking at these figures we must take into account that we know nothing about how many books people have borrowed from the library or the book club. Library statitics reveal that the yearly average is 5 books per capita in the cities and 3 in the country. No such infornation is available from the book clubs.

Taken as a whole, this information about the listeners' linguistic knowledge, musical education and interest, and their reading habits gives an interesting picture of their qualifications for listening to the various broadcasts. But at the same time the material gathered here may form the basis for an extended cultural sociological analysis.

S. ACTUAL LISTENING HABITS.

The research into the actual listening to the broadcasts of the Radio are essentially based on the same material as mentioned in the preceding chapter. But in addition a Danish mechanical recorder, called the Programreter, has been used.

This device may be connected to a transformer station and will register con- secutively on a curve tape the number of wireless sets in use within the range of the transformer station. Te recording is only relative, i. e. it reveals the number of sets in use as compared to the number tuned in when the programmeter was connected to .the transformer station.

Before the interview material had been collected it was practice to fix the recording figure for the News broadcast at 6.35 p. m. at 100 % and then compute the percentual figures for the other broadcasts in relation to the News recording.

137



Arhus 40

20

Varde 20

00

40

20

Io I~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I

6 8 /0 /2 (4 (6 o1 20 22 24

Fig. 7. Listening in % of Persons Interviewed to broadcasts on Sunday, Feb. 26th, in

relation to the programmeter recording.

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Tnis method of caluculating is better than none at all, but suffers from several shortcomings. For one thing, the fluctuations in listening to the News broadcast will by this method have influence on the listening percentage for the other broadcasts. If, for instance, during the week of the Olympic Games the News broadcasts are extensively listened to, the listening figures in pct. for the other broadcasts would naturally show a decline. This decline, however, does not necessarily mean a decline in the number of listeners to these other broadcasts.

Another shortcoming in connection with the method mentioned is that in this way we arrive at entirely too high figures. Listening to the News broadcasts will never be 100 %o, consequently the percentual figures for the other broadcasts, as recorded by the programmeter, must be reduced correspondingly.

Finally it must be mentioned that the programmeter will reveal only how many sets are tuned in. We do not find out how many people are present, just as we do not know whether the set has been tuned in to a Danish or some foreign station. The latter objection is rather a formal one inasmuch as we have found that the number of Danish listeners tuning in to foreign stations is very low. With due

deference to the other sources of error in connection with the programmeter recordings we have in the present research used them chiefly to check up on the results from the treatment of the other materials.

It will be seen that on gathering information about the actual listening, at the personal interviews regarding each programme item on the day preceding the interview, asked whether the respondent had had the radio turned on, and person- ally been present in the apartment. This wording was adopted because it is difficult to ascertain when a person has been listening to the radio and when he has merely been in the room. It was deemed inadvisable to leave this decision to the respondent, and he was therefore simply asked whether the radio had been going while he was present. To this question it should be possible to give a correct and unambiguous answer. Next, to find out how much attention has been paid to the broadcast, he was asked in what other activity he had been engaged while listening. This is an interesting illustration of the importance that must be attached to the wording of a question. The wording adopted in this case will bring about rather high listening figures, and relatively low figures for attention. If we had asked, "to which broadcasts did you listen attentively?" and as a criterion of listening insisted that people render account of what they had heard, listening figures would have been relatively low and attention figures relatively high.

This information about the number of persons with a radio turned on, the number of persons at home, and the number of persons interviewed has been used for computation of two sets of ratios.

The first one is called Listening in % of interviewed persons and computed

139



as number of persons with the radio turned on for a stated broadcasts on a fixed day in percentage proportion to the total number of persons interviewed on the same day. The calculated listening in per cent of persons interviewed must vary in about the same way as the listening calculated on basis of the recordings of the programmeter, assuming identical starting point for the calculations. If at each broadcast there were the same number of people in front of each radio, the curves would coincide.

It may be seen from fig. 7, where the curves tentatively have been drawn to the same scale, that this does not apply to all broadcasts. In the case of some broadcasts, the curve for listening in % of persons interviewed runs above that of the programmeter. That means that at these hours a relatively greater number of persons are listening in front of each open radio. Whereas only in rare cases the curve for listening in % of persons interviewed will run below that of the programmeter. This should indicate that a number of radios were turned on with no people near. Hence, in cases where the programmeter curve runs above, this must more likely be ascribed to an error in the material.

The listening that may be ascertained by means of the programmeter and through calculation of listening in % of persons interviewed will, however, at all times be dependent on the number of persons at home and up at the time of the broadcast. If, during a certain broadcast, there are many persons at homne the listening per cent may be high, and vice versa, a low listening per cent may be due to the fact that few persons are at home.

This fact becomes especially important if we wish to use the listening per cent to say something about the public's interest in the programmes. So we have also calculated the Listening in %T of persons at home, and this calculation has been made separately for selected groups of the population. E. g. may be mentioned that listening in to of persons at home for women is computed as the number of women with the radio turned on during a stated broadcast on a fixed day in percentage proportion to all women that have been at home and up at that particular time.

At times when all the persons interviewed have been at home and up, the two listening percentages will be equal. But as a rule, the listening in % of persons interviewed will be lower than listening in % of persons at home, because out of one group, 100 % very seldom will be at home and up.

To get an illustration of the attention of the listeners during the various broadcasts we have computed an index for the degree of attention. It has been deemed inexpedient to ask whether some broadcast aroused any interest, or whether it had been listened to attentively, and we have chosen to ask how they were occupied during the broadcast. The replies thus obtained have been classified in 7 groups, viz.,

140



80

60

40|AarhusXl

o X A 5

40

20

80

60

40 Varcle

20

80

60

4.0 Lond

20

6 7 8 9 lo 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 232

Fig. 9.Listening in %/ of Persons Interviewed to broadcasts on Saturday, Feb. 25th.

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1) listened

2) rested, cosed, needlework, sewing, knitting, etc.

3) were eating

4) individually occupied (paper reading, letter writting, etc.)

5) collectively occupied (played cards, had company, played with the children)

6) housework, making toilet, housedeaning, cooking, etc.,

7) played the piano or gramophone, laundering, etc.

The above classification has been made after due consideration had been given to the question of which occupations might be considered compatible with radio listening. Much, of course, depends on the nature of the broadcast, but we have considered ourselves justified in assuming, in the following computations that the listeners, profitably and attentively, may have enjoyed the broadcasts if during these they have been engaged in the activities mentioned in 1), 2), and 3).

We have now expounded the most important methodological prerequisites for research in the listeners' actual listening to the broadcasts and only now can we deal with the most important results of the research and then study the listening of some of the larger groups.

The more general results will appear from figs. 7 and 9. Fig. 7 illustrates the listening in %0 of persons interviewed, on Sundays in a large provincial city (Arhus), a smaller provincial town (Varde), and the rural districts, and also the programmeter recordings for the range of a transformer station in Arhus and in one of the rural districts. Thus the programmeter curves do not cover quite the same territory, inasmuch as the research territories are somewhat larger than the range of the transformer station. The substantiation here submitted of the validity of the results of the research will therefore not merit the same valuation as it would if the two materials had covered the same territories. But the figure indicates a high degree of validity for the results of the research, and an equally good con- gruity is found in the course of the two curves for the other days.

Fig. 9 shows the Listening in % of Persons Interviewed, on Saturdays in a large provincial city (Arhus), a small provincial town (Varde), and the rural districts. The two figures together indicate a considerable correlation between listening and the population's daily routine. Broadcasts that tak-e place at hours when many people are at home and up have also, in most cases, the greatest penetration.

Listening to the morning broadcasts on week-days shows an increasing trend until the News broadcast at 8.00, and then a heavy drop. People pay but slight attention to the morning broadcasts, with the possible exception of the News. Hardly any listener does the morning exercises. People are in a hurry, and it would seem inexpedient in the morning to broadcast anything requiring special activity

142



or attention on the part of the listeners. We may in this connection note that quite a few people, i. e. the majority of the working class in the large cities, have access only to the following programme, the News broadcast at 6.15, and ships' positions at 6.50. That is the programme up till 7.00 at which hour the workers are on the job.

Week-day broadcasts in the forenoon are mostly educational broadcasts for schools. It has been suggested that quite a few housewives were listening to these broadcasts, a suggestion which was not borne out by the research. On the contrary, during the research period the Listening in % of Persons Interviewed has at no time exceeded 5 % in the forenoon.

At noon-time, when the mid-day concert begins, the listening figure rises heavily in all research areas. It reaches its peak with the News broadcast and stays on a high level until the termination of the concert at abt. 2.00 p. m.

Week-day listening to the afternoon broadcasts is on a rather low level. 10-

15 % of the persons interviewed listen to these broadcasts. The afternoon lectures, which often are broadcasts for housewives, do not enjoy the same penetration as do the afternoon concerts, but they are more attentively listened to. Saturday afternoon finds a greater proportion of the population at home, and higher listening figures might consequently be expected; this, however, has proved not to be the case. In this respect Saturday does not seem to differ from the other week-days.

On Mondays, when old-fashioned dance music occupies a fair share of the programme the listening figure is generally on a rather high level, whereas the penetration for Thursdays is considerably lower, the main broadcast being a Sym- phony Concert or the Radio Orchestra.

Evening broadcasts between 7.00 and 10.00 p. m. on the whole register greatest penetration. The News broadcasts at 6.45 and 10.00 p. m. have constantly the greatest number of listeners, whereas the listening figures for the intermediary broadcasts may fluctuate considerably.

Sunday morning gives a different picture from that of any week-day. Broad- casting commences at 8.00 a. m., but the majority of listeners do not turn on their radio until 12.00, when the mid-day concert begins. The listening figures are now at a high level until the concert is over at 2.00 p. in. - The rest of the day passes on about the same line as any week-day.

The quality of the listening has, as mentioned, been elucidated by finding out how the listeners are occupied during the various broadcasts. The findings here seem to indicate that the listeners pay greater attention to News broadcasts, radio dramas, and similar broadcasts with "talking". The evening broadcasts are listened to with greater attention than forenoon and afternoon broadcasts. Finally, it

143



Table 7; Selected broadcasts from the Danish Radio arranged according to

listeners preference 1950.

% Listening in pct. of persons Listening in pct. of persons

interviewed at home

80-100 Variety, Saturdays 21-22,00

60-79 News, weekdays and Sundays 12,30 News, weekdays 12,30 and 18,45, sun- and 18,45 days 12,30, 18,45 and 22,00

Old dance music, Tuesdays

40-59 Variety, Saturday 21,00 News, weekdays 8,00 and 22,00 Old dance music, Tuesdays Plays, Fridays 19,45

Poem of the day, weekdays 12,00

20-39 News, weekdays 8,00 and 22,00 "Rigoletto", Thursday 20,00 Plays, Fridays Modern dance music, weekdays 23,00 Poem of the day weekdays 12,00 Jazz concerts Talks, weekdays 19,00 Entertainmnent music, weekdays "Rigoletto", Thursday 20,00 News, weekdays 6,15 and Sundays 8,00 Features, weekdays and 22,00

Talks, weekdays Features, weekdays

10-19 Mass, Sundays 10,00 Mass, Sundays 10,00 News Sundays 8,00 and 22,00 Chamber music, weekdays Chamber music, weekdays Hindel etc. Entertainment music, weekdays Reading af poems, weekdays Morning service, weekdays 8,30 M4orning service, weekdays 8,30

0-9 Handel etc. Weather reports, weekdays Dance music, weekdays 23,00 Morning exercise, weekdays 7,00 Jazz concerts Language programmes Poetry readings, weekdays School broadcast, weekdays 9,15 News, weekdays 6,15 Weather reports Morning exercise, weekdays 7,00 Language programmes School broadcasts, weekdays 9,15

has been found that the rural population will listen with greater attention than do the town dwellers.

A comparison between listening in February and September tends to show just a modest seasonal fluctuation. Variations during the day take the same course during the two interview periods. In summer penetration is greatest at morning and mid- day mealtimes, and in the evening from 6.30 till 10.15. Penetration in summer of

144



forenoon and afternoon programmes is on about the same level as in winter, whereas for evening broadcasts it is 20 % lower.

If next we proceed to look at the penetration of the different broadcasts it will

be of special interest to look at Listening in % of Persons Interviewed and also at Listening in % of Persons at Home. The former figure reveals the number of

persons listening to the different broadcasts, the latter gives a picture of the

listeners' interest in the broadcasts. With regard to the latter figure it must, of

course, be admitted that a different place on the programme migh result in a de-

crease or an increase. In table 7 are listed the most important broadcasts, arranged according to penetra-

tion preference. In most instances the sequence would be about the same whether

based on listening in % of persons interviewed or in % of persons at home. But in respect of the very early broadcasts, such as the News broadcast on week-

days at 6.15 a. m., and the late ones, such as Dance Music and Jazz, there is a

great change. With one exception all the broadcasts are from the Danish Radio. Listening to

foreign broadcasts is insignificant, highest when there is no music in the Danish Radio and greater in the cities than in the rural districts.

To illustrate who is listening to the broadcasts we have analyzed in figs. 10 and 11 the penetration of ten characteristic broadcasts on week-days on the evening

programme between 7.00 10.00 p. m. (Modern Dance Music between 10 and 11.30 p. m.).

The first three columns show Listening in % of Persons Interviewed (black areas) and Listening in % of Persons at Home, at the hour of broadcasting

(entire column) for a large provincial city (M), a smaller provincial town (T), and the rural districts (C). The subsequent columns all represent Listening in %

of Persons at Home in a large provincial city. Columns M and F reflect penetration of men and women, respectively. The next four columns show variations in

penetration for the age groups 15-24 years, 25-34 years, 35-49 years, and

50 years or over. It should be noted ihat the material for the 15-24 groups is very small, and for two reasons; firstly, because relatively few young people were

interviewed; secondly because young people do not stay at home in the evenings as

much as do older people. Listening in % of Persons at Home consequently is not

quite reliable. The last two columns give the penetration of persons with elementary education (E) and persons with higher education (H).

A closer scrutiny of these two figs. and the other material available concerning listening to the broadcasts of the Radio gives the following main results for the

listening habits of the different social groups, viz. The rural population listen less than do the urbanites. Week-day average listen-

145



F2~ i== Tn CCl n4fS/~%~

80

*w;1~~~~~~~~~~ I t1 I F-01 1 1tI

4%b20

820

-60

10 160 1 D ~20

Fig. 10-11. Social structure of the audience of ten typical broadcasts.

146



z~20

147



ing is at little less than 2 hours in the country and abt. 21/2 hours in the cities. Taken by and large, Listening in % of Persons Interviewed indicates the same preference for country and town. A few characteristic deviations should, however, bepointed out. Religious broadcasts, for instance, find a larger and more attentive audience in the country than in the cities; the same applies to agricultural broadcasts and old-fashioned Dance Music. By collating penetration and listeners' activity during the broadcasts we find that the rural population, when they are listening, are more attentive than the urbanites. It may find its explanation in the fact that the former do not to the same extent as the latter use the radio as background accompaniment to other activities.

In respect of most broadcasts the Listening in % of Persons Interviewed is greater for women than for men, but this is due to the fact that most hours of the day find more women than men at home. If their access to listening is taken into account, the picture is reversed; or put it this way: if we look at the Listening in % of Persons at Home, we find the men in majority.

The listening habits of the different age groups do not show a correspondingly uniform variation in the ten selected broadcasts in figs. 10 and 11, but seem to be greatly dependent on the nature of the broadcast. If we consider the entire material of the research there seems to be a tendency of relatively high Listening in %0 of Persons at Home, to Music broadcasts as far as young people are concerned. Moreover, it may be noted that the age group over 65 years listen considerably less to the radio, the News broadcast forming the only exception.

Penetration of the two educational groups also seems very dependent on the nature of the broadcasts.

I appraising the value of these findings we must, however, always bear in mind that it is very likely that some listener has listened to a broadcast for the simple reason that some other member of the household wanted to hear it. But if this problem is to be more closely investigated, the penetration figures will not suffice. We would then have to adopt a research technique more complicated than the one now in use.

In closing it might, therefore, be reasonable to point out that a number of problems concerning penetration are still unsolved. The present research has pro- cured some basic information. But only if followed up by other research work will these endeavours prove of real value. It is to be hoped, then, that the initiative taken by the Danish Radio may develop into a more permanent research institution, as is the case in other countries.12)

12) see Silvey, R. J. E.: Methods of Listener Research Employed by the B. B. C. J. Royal Statist. Soc. Vol CVII, 1944. Paul F. Lazarsfeld and Patricia L. Kendall: Radio Listening in America. New York 1948.

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radio listening in denmark

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