African American

Female Media Consumption

Conducted:

April 15, 2008

Temple University

Objectives

• Exploratory Research• Use small homogeneous sample• To discover ideas and insights concerning:

– Specifically: College aged AA females at Temple University– Broadly: More in-depth understanding of media consumption choices

among this demographic

1. Examine usage of frequency radio

2. Examine usage of online radio

3. Evaluate motivation of behavior

4. Explore music preferences

5. Examine awareness of Brown Girl Radio & W.H.I.P. Station

Meet the Respondents

Interview Topics

• Frequency radio Listenership

• Online Radio Listenership

• Favorite part of the show

• Awareness of Brown Girl Radio

• Awareness of W.H.I.P.

• Music preferences

Exploratory Findings

• Frequency Radio Listenership:• 7 of 8(88%) respondents listen to frequency radio

• Of those those that do , 2/8(25%) listen daily

• 4/8(50%) report they listen to it primarily in the car

• The 1 respondent that reports to not listen to frequency

radio, listens to it in the car and at home

• Reasons they do-

– Convenient

– Needs music on constantly

• Reasons they do not-

– Same songs in heavy rotation

– Too much rap

• Comments-

– “Hates it though”

• Online Radio Listenership:• 5 of 8(63%) respondents listen to online radio• Reasons they do-

– When sitting at a computer for long periods*– Control of playlists– Significantly less commercials*

• Reasons they do no-– Lack of awareness of where and how***– Computer is slow– CDs and MP3s

• Frequency include-

– “every once in a while”– “not a lot, computers too slow”

• Comments-– “Loves it”– AOL

Exploratory Findings

• Favorite part of a radio show:• This question was not asked to every

respondent

• However 2 respondents answered this question

• 1 answered MUSIC and 1 answered TALK

• Comments:

" there are very few talk programs

that I actually enjoy. I usually

find them annoying and pointless,

that is why I like BGR…you have

something to say"

• Awareness of Brown Girl Radio:• 5 of 7 respondents asked if they heard of Brown

Girl Radio reported “yes”

• 5/8(63%) are aware of Brown Girl Radio

• 2 of those 5 reported listening 2-3 times

• 1 respondent comments:

“ I don’t know anything about BGR or the station

Exploratory Findings

• Awareness of W.H.I.P.:• 5/8(63%) of respondents reported hearing of

Tempe’s student run radio station, WHIP

• All of those who were of Brown Girl Radio were

also familiar with W.H.I.P. radio

• Music preferences:

TRENDS:• Don’t like a lot of rap

– Want “ original, conscious hip hop”

Popular Artists Mentioned:• Erykah Badu• Alicia Keys• Mary J. Blidge• Beyonce• Jill Scott• Raheem DeVaughn• Musiq• Old classic• Chrisette Michelle

Extended Interview

• An interviewee went into further detail about consumption of Music & News.• She, in many ways represents my target audience for BroadcastHer

• Key Findings– Only listens to frequency radio in her hometown, Washington D.C.

– Doesn’t listen in Philly because there are only “hip- hop stations”• There is a lack of Soul and R&B stations

– When in Philly uses CDs and Ipod

– Doesn’t have a radio in her house at school, uses her computer

– Listens to Online radio

– Yahoo Online radio

– Heard and listened to Brown Girl Radio

– Doesn’t watch a lot of network news

– Gets news from The Daily Show and Colbert Report daily

– Also gets news from the internet often

I=interviewer R:=respondent

I: Do you listen to the radio:

R: No just in the car and sometimes in the house

I: What do you listen to as for music “in the house”:

R: CDs , MP3 player

I: Do you utilize online radio at all?

R: No

I: Why not?

R: I don’t really know about it, I know a little bit but I have a radio right in my house so I just use my radio

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I=interviewer R:=respondent

I: Do you listen to frequency radio a lot?

R: Yea…actually not that much just when I’m in D.C. I listen to it a lot. When I’m here [Phila.] I just go off of CD and IPOD

I: Why is that?

R: I’m just not cool with the radio here, I only know one Philly radio station and it’s mostly all hip-hop. I don’t like a lot of rap so I just use my iTunes

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I=interviewer R:=respondent

I: Why do you or don’t you listen to online radio?

R1: I like it because there are less commercials…you can play the music you want…but with the radio (fm/am) they play the same 5 songs every hour on the hour! With online radio you can manage your own music

R2: I don’t listen to online radio

I: Is there a reason why you do not?

R2: I honestly don’t know anything about it, I don’t know where to look. I usually use just iTunes so I can listen to whatever. I have 7,000 songs so I can create my own playlists

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I=interviewer R:=respondent

I: Have you ever heard of Brown Girl Radio?

R: Yes, I have

I: Have you ever listened ?

R: Yes, 2 or 3 times, for about 20-30 minutes

I: What is your favorite component of the show

R: Talk, there are very few talk programs that I actually do. I find them very annoying and meaningless. Brown Girl Radio connects with me the listener because I’m right there with what they have to say.

Overall Conclusions• Mostly all respondents listen to frequency radio often

–They are overall unsatisfied with it’s variety and lack of control–Satisfied with it’s convenience at home or in the car

• A little over half listen to online radio–Not nearly as often as they listen to frequency radio–They like the control, less commercials, and variety–Inconvenient, because long periods at the computer are need–Lack of portability

• No clear findings about favorite component of show– Want to hear meaningful talk– Want to hear original , conscious hip-hop– Want to hear less rap

•A little over half respondents aware of BGR–Of those respondents, they were also aware of W.H.I.P.

Hypotheses GeneratedHypothesis:

• I used these interviews to gain insights and ideas• Provide a better understanding of media consumption habits of black female students• With my findings I generated these hypothesis:

1. More females have heard of and tuned in to brown girl radio.2. Females listen to more frequency radio than males3. Females listen to online radio less than males4. Females watch television shows online less than males5. Those who are familiar with BGR are familiar with W.H.I.P. station

• These are only five of eleven final hypotheses generated!