Transcript Chapter 5 Audiences for Daytime Radio Serials: Uses and Gratifications COM 436

Chapter 5
Audiences for Daytime Radio
Serials: Uses and Gratifications
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Media Effects
Study numbers
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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
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Radio Soap Studies
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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
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Herzog wanted to compare listeners
to non-listeners
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Media Effects
Hypotheses (Research Questions)
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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.
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Remember these are compared to nonlisteners.
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Results
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More socially isolated?
– No, not statistically significant.
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Fewer intellectual interests?
– Yes, in terms of education.
– Yes, in terms of reading preferences.
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Less concerned with public affairs?
– Hard to say.
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Results (con’t)
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Less self-assurance and more
worries?
– Not really.
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Prefer radio more in general?
– Yes.
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Next Class: Discussion
of Uses and Gratifications
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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?
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Mid-term Exam #1
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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.
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