Audiences for Daytime Radio Serials: Uses and Gratifications

1
Chapter 5

• Audiences for Daytime Radio Serials Uses and
  Gratifications

2
Study numbers

• The study was actually four separate studies
  brought together into a single report.
• Nationwide investigation of 4,991 nonfarm women.
• Cross-section of 5,325 women in Iowa.
• Sample of 1,500 women in Erie County, Ohio.
• Interviews with women in Syracuse, Memphis and
  Minneapolis.
• Overall 47.9 regular listeners 5.1
  sometime listeners 47 nonlisteners

3
Radio Soap Studies

• Historical context
• late 1930s, radio very popular
• beginning of Mass Communication as a discipline
• Radio soap listeners mostly women?
• nearly half of American women were regular
  listeners
• no mention of male listeners
• Herzog wanted to compare listeners to
  non-listeners

4
Hypotheses (Research Questions)

• Regular listeners would
• be more socially isolated.
• have fewer intellectual interests.
• be less concerned with public affairs.
• have less self-assurance and more worries.
• prefer radio more in general.
• Remember these are compared to nonlisteners.

5
Results

• More socially isolated?
• No, not statistically significant.
• Fewer intellectual interests?
• Yes, in terms of education.
• Yes, in terms of reading preferences.
• Less concerned with public affairs?
• Hard to say.

6
Results (cont)

• Less self-assurance and more worries?
• Not really.
• Prefer radio more in general?
• Yes.

7
Next Class Discussion of Uses and
Gratifications

• Popularity of Soaps today?
• News and business media?
• Other entertainment media?
• Why should we care how people use media?
• Can news media be an agent for prosocial change?
• Can entertainment media be an agent for prosocial
  change?

8
Mid-term Exam 1

• Covers lecture notes, textbook, class discussions
  and student presentations on Chapters 1 - 5.
• 15 - 20 multiple choice questions
• 4 - 6 open-ended questions
• Exam is worth 20 of final grade.
• Focus on theory, results and historical settings.