PUBLIC RADIO TECH SURVEY 2019 FINDS MORE EVIDENCE OF “NEWS FATIGUE”

Year after year, one of the most popular sessions at the Public Radio Content Conference (PRPD) is the annual Public Radio Tech Survey by Jacobs Media Strategies [link]. 

Jacobs has conducted PRTS for more than a decade. 

Jacobs also does annual Tech Surveys for commercial stations and religious stations.

PRTS 2019 is the most comprehensive study of media usage by public radio’s core listeners. 

The 2019 study contains so many important findings that Spark News will present the results in several posts starting next week.

We are presenting the data in digestible bites because we want to keep the focus on the findings rather than have them disappear in the sheer volume of the information available.

Today was are focusing on the phenomenon called “news fatigue,” a bad mood caused, in part, the ubiquitous media presence of President Donald Trump. 

Though PRTS 2019 questionnaire never mentions Trump, there is little doubt that he is a major contributor of “news fatigue.”

PUBLIC RADIO LISTENERS & “NEWS FATIGUE”

According to PRTS 2019, many public radio news listeners feel they are suffering “news fatigue.” But their behavior is sometimes different than their perceptions.

Many NPR News/Talk stations had record increases in listeners and listing in the months around the 2016 election.  Since then, some stations have seen a downturn in their Nielsen ratings. But quite a few other stations have had no declines. Today we estimated that 30% of NPR News stations are now the top source for radio news in their markets.

PRTS 2019 found that public radio listening continues to be strong with only a slight slippage compared with past years.

The majority of people surveyed say their time spent listening has stayed about the same.

The percentage of PRTS participants who say they listen to public radio less now has tripled since 2019, the year Trump was elected.

This is particularly true for women in all age groups.

About one in five of PRTS 2019 participants say they listen less to public radio now because they “often need a break from the news. 

Younger listeners tend to “need a break” from the news more often the other ages.

But, here is contradiction from the PRTS 2019 respondents.  

Many people said they have increased their listening to public radio because of the “current political climate.”

On one hand, many PRTS 2019 participants said they listen to public radio less because the news is so depressing. 

Then, on the other hand, many participants said because the news is depressing, they are listening more.  

 It appears that millennial age women are the best at keeping hope alive.