CHALLENGES QUESTIONNAIRE RESULT

Radio Record, Volume XII, Issue 36, 17 February 1939, Page 3

CHALLENGES QUESTIONNAIRE RESULT

Hand-Picked Jury Is Not A Fair Jury, Says Sinclair Carruthers In Reply To Last Week’s "Record" Story

Last week’s radio questionnaire, published on the front nage of the "Record," has excited a great deal of interest, especially the paragraph relating to the number of listeners who tune into the YA stations and those who listen to the ZB’s. These figures are challenged by Sinclair Carruthers, head of the Carlton-Car-ruthers Advertising Agency, and managing-director of Radio Features Here is Mr. Carruthers’ reply to last week’s questionnaire:

& ¢ IIE fundamental requisite of any jury is impartiality. A jury. to be fair, must not be handpicked to represent the views of one side or the other. I am therefore compelled to strongly challenge the impartiality. or rather the geographical suitability, of the jury of ‘Record’ listeners to express views as summarised in your last week’s issue, so far as it bears upon the question of YA stations versus ZB stations. "A QUESTIONNAIRE OF THIS CHARACTER, TO BE OF ANY VALUE, MUST COVER THE FULL RANGE OF THE RADIO AUDIENCE AND BE EQUITABLY APPLIED IN POINT OF TIME. WHILE YOU QUITE FAIRLY STATE IN YOUR ARTICLE THAT THE QUESTIONNAIRE WAS SENT OUT TO ONLY 1000 ‘RECORD’ READERS — ABOUT 2 PER CENT. OF YOUR CIRCULA-TION-i FIND ON ANALYSIS THAT MOST OF THESE WERE AMONG THE JOURNAL’S EARLIEST SUBSCRIBERS AND WERE PRINCIPALLY COUNTRY DWELLERS. "The conclusions drawn as to the percentage listening to YA _ stations as compared with ZB stations are therefore likely to be applied by careless readers (or others particularly interested in so doing) as representing the views or partialities of the great majority of radio listeners. It is very easy for an absolute statement to be picked out of its context and I am therefore concerned to put on record, clearly and beyond ail doubt, the fact that your questionnaire, in the way you conducted it, necessarily collected the views only of a jury which, from the circumstances in which it was placed, must necessarily be partial and not equipped to deliver a fair judgment between the merits of the two Services. YA Versus ZB

"T must record my great appreciation of your fairness when, on my questioning your conclusions, you made ayvailable to me the replies received from your radio jury. These I have analysed on the specific question of YA versus ZB. In the first place, analysis of your postal subscribers shows that they are drawn, as one would expect, almost entirely from rural commiunities; most of the addresses are rural delivery, or country private bags, showing that the recipients are prepared to pay the extra fee for postal delivery, because they have not ready access to shops. This fact marks practically the whole of your radio jury as having a country bias, but closer examination shows that a preponderance of these are from remote areas. "A careful perusal of the replies received led me to subdivide them into five separate classes, which J will list as follows:Class 1.-Those absolutely devoted to the YA’s, with no second choice. Class 2.-Those devoted to the oe for. the first choice, with ZB’ in frequent support. Class 3.-Those devoted to the 2B , , Stations as; a- first and» absolute '* *" ohoice. Class 4.-Those devoted to the ZD’s

with regular use of the YA’s as a supplement. Class 5.-Those dividing their attention 50-50 between "the two services. "Analysing the replies | find that 438 per cent fell into Class 1YA’s first and absolutely; 18 rer cent fell into Class 2, YA’s with regular use of the ZB’s; 11.3 per cent were devoted to ZB’s only; 3 per cent were devoted to ZB’s with regular use of YA stations and 24 per cent divided their attention 50/50 between the two services "A detailed analysis of th occupation givén confirms the preponderance of rural activities. Of all who responded, 733 per cent described themselves as sheep farmers, dairy farmers, farm tands or pursuing rural occupations, such as lighthouse keepers, country school teachers, roadmen, ploughmen, sawmillers, bridge builders and farmers’ wives. "The remaining 26% per cent. fell into the class of retired people, small cJwn busiressmen, carpen-

ters, joiners, rural radio dealers, with one or two doctors, clergymen and others not stated. But these again were chiefly from rural townships and. as is well known, many of these cannot effectively hear the ZB stations. Country Reception "Tne fact that many country listeners are unable to hear the ZB stations is shown by the replies given. For instance, amongst those who gave absolute choice to the YA stations there were many who said to the question as to whether they listened to the ZB stations, ‘Yes, when heard.’ "Others gave their choice of the YA’s as being, ‘Because of better reception.’ Still others said, when referring to the ZB's, ‘Believe they are the most interesting and instructive but my set will not. bring them-out clearly--YA’s are! the only stations my set will

handle. Still more, referring to the ZB’s said, ‘Only available at night.’ "These show. that the opportunity of decision available to your jury wa limited anc because of this the conclusion. drawn from it in your summing up were erroncous. The ZB’s do not claim to effectively cover Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne district, Main Trunk, West Coast and many other distant or sparsely populated areas. They do claim to cover those areas representing not less than 70 per cent. of New Zealand’s population, normal domestic and social purchasing power, Yet, on my analysis, your survey gave 70 per cent of all the votes to the 30 per cent. of the community who are beyond the regular influence of the ZB stations, I feel you will agree that this was hardly fair. "Experience in America shows that assessment of the tastes of the radio audiences is a very involved and complicated task, and not to be covered effectually by a brief questionnaire over a selected small group of people. Surveys conducted by ourselves show that at certain times in the day or night as high a proportion as 80 per cent. of the total audience will switch into a particular programme. "At the present moment this is so at 10.80 a.m. in the case of ‘The House of Peter MacGregor,’ whilst ‘Hymns of all Churches’ pulls 70 per cent. regularly at 8.30 a.m., both over ZB stations. Again, during the election we conducted a

survey and found that 85 per cent, of all sets tuned i: were listening to the Prime Minister when he was on t'> air ana a similar percentage was drawn by Mr. Hamilton. Would Reverse Figures "A station’s audience fluctuates with its programme and a gener alised strvey of the type conducted by you is, for all commercial or cultural purposes, practically useless. This is amply borne out by the results of the questionnaires issued by the National Broadcasting Service. These show that one section prefers swing music, an-

other "wusical comedy, still another opera, and so on. WHach section swings from _ station to station to get its particular preference, provided what it wants is within range. "To suggest as a set off to your questionnaire devoted to the rural sections of your readers that one be taken covering « section of city listeners would certainly cause 2 reversal of your figures, but woul" not actually establish anything. "| WILL CHALLENGE YOU, THOUGH, TO CONDUCT A SIMILAR INVESTIGATION WITH 50 PER CENT. RURAL TO 50 PER CENT CITY LISTENERS TO TEST WHETHER THOSE WITHIN RANGE OF THE 2B STATIONS LISTEN TO ‘THE HOUSE OF PETER MACGREGOR’ AND IN SPORTING SPIRIT | AM QUITE PREPARED TO BET YOU A NEW HAT THAT 66 PER CENT. OF THOSE WHO LISTEN TO MORNING PROGRAMMES LISTEN TO DEAR OLD PETER. "That would establish the only fact that matters in hroadcasting -if the programme is good enough the majority will listen to it irrespective of which service supplies it. "Surveys of the type conducted by you have long since been dlscarded by all reputable broadcasting services and stations throughout the world because their results have been proved to be fallacious."