In February we invited listeners to participate in a survey seeking insight into their morning news consumption habits.
More than 3,000 of you participated in our online survey with nearly 100 of you keeping a detailed two-day journal recording your morning media habits from the time you woke to 10 a.m. While we're still sorting through the data, we wanted to share some topline findings, along with some listener facts that you might find interesting.
While 91% of you said "Morning Edition" is great, you did let us know that KUT needs to better accommodate your lifestyle and schedule. Your feedback reflects three areas for improvement:
Less repetition
- "I often turn on KUT while I'm getting ready and then not again until after I drop off the kids at daycare. I find that sometimes I hear the same stories twice." ~ female, aged 35-44
- "Less repetition, more segments with a sense of what makes Austin interesting." ~ male aged 55-64
More headlines, more information
- "One of the things I love most about NPR and KUT is the close analysis, but in the morning I'd prefer a broader survey of what's going on around the world." ~ male aged 18-24
- "I like the local news at the top of the hour, I'd appreciate more weather info during the hours. Another option would be running a half-hour program with local news three times a day." ~ female aged 55-64
More local news and/or a stand-alone show with in-depth coverage of local and regional news
- "End it (Morning Edition) at 9 a.m. and add a local interview show similar to KQED's Forum." ~ male aged 35-44
- "I want local NEWS, not something about conditions in Nigeria or Timbuktu. Nearly impossible to find out what is happening in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and El Paso. They have elections, indictments that are NEVER even reported here in Austin. Half of Austin is from those four cities!" ~ (individual did not provide demographic info)
We're doing a deep dive into all of your comments and will work hard this spring and summer to incorporate some of your feedback into our programming.
In the meantime, here are some interesting nuggets gleaned from your responses:
You're awoken each day by:
An alarm on your mobile device – 32%
An alarm clock radio – 24%
Nothing (you wake up naturally) – 23%
An alarm clock (without a radio) – 16%
Family member – 4%
Household/Neighborhood noise – 1%
Your favorite news sources include:
KUT 90.5 – 80%
Austin American-Statesman – 33%
NPR.org – 20%
New York Times – 20%
Facebook – 20%
KVUE-TV (ABC) – 13%
The device you use to consume news in the mornings is:
Radio – 53%
TV – 15%
Desktop/Laptop – 9%
Smartphone – 9%
Newspaper – 9%
Tablet – 3%
Thank you again for those of you who took the time to participate in our survey.