I have chosen to take a broad look at one of the local radio stations, Passion
99.5. I will touch on the background of the station, introduce its programming,
as well as take a look at how and whether it succeeds at reaching its targeted
audience. To gather information for this paper from a reliable source, I interviewed
Serene Chen, a full time Producer-Presenter with Passion 99.5(questions attached
in Appendix A). I also conducted a survey to get an idea of the response of
the targeted audience and got information from sources in the media such as
The Straits Times, 8 Days magazine and the Passion 99.5 website.
Introduction
Passion 99.5 is a radio station set up by Singapore's National Arts Council
(NAC), which began broadcasting 12 hours a day from 11am daily on 1st Dec 1997.
It was officially launched on 3rd Apr the following year. Run by the NAC, the
station is aimed at promoting the arts in Singapore, almost as an extension
of the efforts of the NAC. The Programme Director, the Administrator, eight
full-time Producer-Presenters and a number of part-time presenters run the station.
Background & Information
Brief History
In June 1997, the first plans for the first arts radio station was unveiled
during a parliamentary session. The plans were announced by the Ministry for
Information and the Arts (MITA), and led to the founding of a committee. The
Executive Director of the NAC, Mr Choo Thiam Siew, headed this committee. A
year after the station was launched, a concert featuring celebrities such as
Hossan Leong and Mark Chan was held at Raffles City to mark its first birthday.
Last October, the station revamped its programme schedule, with the grouping
of the specific music types and talk programmes into neat time belts. Their
second birthday was celebrated at the Library@Orchard with the performances
of artistes such as Selena Tan and the Stoned Revivals on 11th December last
year. This year has seen another two major milestones for the station. Firstly,
broadcasting hours were extended to 16 hours a day, with the station opening
at 7am and closing at 11pm each day. The history of events are summarised in
the timeline below (Figure 1).
Milestones in the history of Passion 99.5 (Fig.1)
Funding
Funding for the radio station's daily running and special events comes mostly
from sponsors. The responsibility of sourcing for these sponsors falls on 2
Marketing and Sponsorship staff from the NAC. In addition, advertisers also
contribute in part, and another portion of their funding comes from the Singapore
Broadcasting Authority (SBA). However, funding is a continual concern for the
station. Serene Chen, a Producer-Presenter, hints that more improvements could
be introduced if they had more funding.
Aims & Objectives
The station is heralded as the "Station for the Arts". In line with
the NAC, the station's objectives include raising the awareness of and appreciation
for the arts amongst listeners. In addition, it aims to provide a channel through
which the arts community can be heard.
Target Audience
The target audience of Passion 99.5 consists of those aged 15 - 40 years. Contrary
to common belief, it does not target people who are already in the industry,
or particular interested in the arts scene. In colloquial language, these are
the "arty" people. Indeed, again we see the station conforming to
its objective of reaching out to people and telling them about the arts and
inviting them to take interest rather than having the people who are already
interested or involved go out and get the information via some elite channel.
Listenership
The average number of listeners who tune in to the station is 40,000 per week.
The figures were taken from an AC Nielsen survey, which spanned the months March
to May 2000. Other than these figures, there is no information regarding the
listenership, which the station could provide.
Programming
The Station's Programmes
Programming in the station follows the guidelines provided by the Singapore
Broadcasting Authority, which stipulate a mix of 30% information and 70% music.
The programmes that air on Passion 99.5 therefore comprise information and music
programmes, as well as promotions and special guests in the studio regularly.
Basically, three genres of music are played on Passion 99.5's airwaves. The
predominant genre is World music, mostly from Latin America. Jazz is played
in the evenings and the third genre is local music, featuring homegrown artistes
and bands.
Weekday programming generally follows a basic repeated outline (shown in the
programme schedule offered on the Passion 99.5 official website, Figure 2).
Mornings consist of The Breakfast Show, followed by Singapore Jam. At noon,
listeners can hear Latin music in Latin Lunch. Afternoons consist of Culture
Club and in the early evenings, the programme Afro-Latino can be heard. Finally,
jazz is played from 8pm onwards.
Figure 2 - Programme schedule as on website
During each programme, which is a basic slot of three hours, there are special
segments, which vary depending on the day. Throughout the day, the station keeps
to its identity of being an arts radio station with the objective of promoting
awareness of the arts scene in Singapore by having interviews, information on
events, introductions of albums and artists and so on. Arts Interview, for example,
is featured as part of Latin Lunch and is repeated later in the day during Afro-Latino
Express. The same is true for Arts News and Arts Diary. Each weekday, in addition,
features the introduction of a particular album. Because the station hopes to
reach out to more listeners in their promotion and to thereby increase awareness
of the albums they promote, this segment, called Album of the Week, is also
repeated in the evenings.
The Breakfast Show features segments such as In the House, which makes listeners
aware of upcoming arts events. Another segment is Art Files, where performance
spaces in Singapore are introduced and listeners are taken on a "tour"
of these places. In the afternoons, listeners can listen to interviews with
featured artistes, hear about albums or learn more about music from different
parts of the world. Another way the station tries to attract younger listeners
and make its programming more relevant to them is through its programme Folktales.
This segment features primary and secondary school children reading folk stories
on air. This involves them, raises awareness about the arts amongst them and
also appeals to other school children - their friends, for example, would identify
with the programme and have more incentive to tune in.
The station broadcasts mainly in English, but it stays true to its aim of giving
the community a channel to be heard through. This includes local artistes, whose
profiles are raised through Singapore Jam. Also, featured artistes are not limited
to those who appeal to mainly English or Chinese-speaking markets -these languages
are undoubtedly more heard over local airwaves than any other. For example,
a segment that airs during Culture Club, called Music Melayu, introduces listeners
to Malay songs and famous artistes. A final example of how Passion 99.5 tries
to design its programming to attract and cater to a large audience is its "value-added
edge", in the words of Producer-Presenter Serene Chen. The example she
quotes is Double Time with David Humphreys, a segment during All Night Jazz,
which contains useful information about building up your own jazz collection.
Jazz albums are reviewed to enable listeners to get ideas about which are good
buys or additions to a jazz collection.
Passion 99.5 introduces new elements into their programming every three months.
Their most recent new highlight is Essential Acid, a weekly segment during All
Night Jazz all about acid jazz music. This is part of their effort to constantly
improve and keep the programme refreshing. As part of their promotions, a notable
event would be their outdoor concert Passion and all that Jazz, which was a
rather high profile affair at the Botanic Gardens. This event saw the attendance
of a record 6000 people.
The Survey
We have looked at the type of programming and music broadcast on Passion 99.5,
and they have proven to be quite considerably in tune with their objectives.
In the next section, let us take a look at a survey I conducted amongst people
within the targeted age range (Interview questions attached in Appendix B).
However I could not reach respondents from each age in the targeted age range.
This is a problem I faced that will be touched on later.
Objectives
I designed a survey that would allow me to find out about my respondents' radio
listening habits in general - this included tastes in music, preferred programme
formats and so on. I also included questions about Passion 99.5 specifically,
to pick up details on the listening habits of those who did tune in to Passion
99.5. In addition, I tried to find out about the general level of awareness
or knowledge of the station, and asked for feedback about their feelings about
the arts scene and the role Passion 99.5 could play.
I felt that the station was doing a good job of trying to tailor its programming
to be in line with its objectives, and yet to try and reach out to as many people
as possible, and to try and keep their listeners even in the midst of attracting
new ones. So I ventured to see whether the audience was responding.
Survey results
I got back 78 surveys although more were sent out via email as well as in hard
copy. The first question was a straightforward one - either they knew it or
they did not. Only 14% knew which organisation ran the station. The most common
misconception was that it was under RCS (24%). 55% indicated they did not know
and did not try to guess, while the rest gave other wrong answers. The second
question quizzed the participants on what they thought was featured on the station.
Just about 9% even mentioned arts programmes such as review, interviews or readings.
The most popular response was "Don't know" (54%), followed by "world
music" (28%), which is indeed found on the airwaves. Jazz, another main
feature of Passion 99.5 was only mentioned by 12%. No one mentioned local music,
the third type of music played on Passion 99.5. This question actually required
an impression and should not have received so many "don't knows".
Question 3 asked who the target audience was. Again, most respondents indicated
they did not know (45%). The next most popular answer was "Arty" (18%).
"Young", "middle-aged" and "yuppies" interestingly
accounted for 10% for the answers each. Question 4 asked if they had seen promotional
effort by Passion 99.5 before. 72% said they had not. Amongst the rest, they
gave examples such as magazines (8%) and during sponsored events (9%). Question
5 was illuminating and accounted for most of the results obtained from the survey
- 69% had never tuned in before, for reasons such as lack of awareness, interest
or because they were currently devoted to another station. 27% said they had
tuned in less than 5 times before. That left only 4 % who tuned in regularly
or on occasion.
The next question was relevant only to those who tuned in, more than half (58%)
of those who had ever tuned in said they had done so because there was nothing
better to listen to or happened to surf by the channel. Only 37% indicated they
tuned in for the programme content, range of music or the presenters. Question
7 received an almost unanimous response. When asked what they liked most about
the station, 9% said the programmes, music or presenters. 6% said they liked
nothing and the rest (85%) felt they did not know enough to comment. Question
8 asked respondents to rank the types of music they preferred. Overall, these
were the top 5 categories - Contemporary/Top 40/Pop, Rock, Chinese music/pop,
Jazz and R&B/Soul/Hip-Hop. The category, Contemporary/Top 40/Pop, came out
tops with 29% naming it their most preferred. Rock and Jazz were close with
8% and 7% respectively naming them as their most preferred. For second most
preferred, again, Contemporary/Top 40/Pop had 31% picking it. 12% picked Chinese
music/pop as their second most preferred. This was closely followed by Rock
and R&B/Soul/Hip-Hop, with 9% each.
Question 9 asked for preferred programme segments. The most popular was Song
Dedication (49%). Next came Music only (23%), Introducing artistes/albums/events
(15%), then News/Weather/Traffic, Talk shows about current affairs/issues/events
& Contests/games, all with 13%. Question 10 asked for details on how much
information was obtained from the radio and other sources. 65% got a little,
31% got some and none got most or all of their information from the radio. Print
media was the most popular alternative source of information (71%), followed
by television, then the Internet. For question 11, answers given were well distributed
among the options. 29% listened to the radio just about everyday, 27% never
or seldom listened, 26% listened 3-5 times a week and the rest listened once
or twice. Question 12 then asked for how long they tuned in each time. 44% tuned
in for up to an hour, 36% tuned in for 1-3 hours. The rest were evenly split
between tuning in for 4-6 hours and having the radio on (in the background)
most of the time regardless of what the person was doing. Listening habits were
described in question 13 mostly as moderate - they paid some attention but noticed
if something interesting or a good song was played (63%). The other options
were picked equally. Question 14 produced results not unexpected based on answers
to question 8. The most popular radio stations were Perfect 10 (named as first
choice by 23%, second by 23%, third by 10% - total % who named Perfect 10 in
top 3 favourite stations: 56%), Class 95 (first choice: 22%; second choice:
17%; third choice: 14% - total: 53%), Power 98 (first: 19%; second: 18%; third:
8% - total: 45%) and YES 933 (first: 18%; second: 5%; third: 5% - total: 28%).
This reflected the most popular choices of music.
Next in question 17, 40% described themselves as "arty" and 41% described
themselves as not. The best ways of keeping in touch with the arts scene were
print media (41% - again this was congruous with people earlier indicating they
obtained most information via print media), then TV, friends and the Internet
with almost equal tallies (about 8-9%). The last question asked it they would
tune in if they did not already. 28% said yes mostly because of curiosity, 38%
said no due to lack of interest or publicity and the rest said it depended on
the programming as a whole.
Analysis & commentary
From the survey results, it is rather apparent that most people are generally
not aware of the station's existence or format. Amongst those who have heard
of it, very few have tuned in more than 5 times. However I was not surprised
at the survey results (although about half of them are from CS students, whom
I expected to at least have heard of the station!). A probable reason that people
do not tune in seems to be the lack of promotional effort or publicity.
People do not notice messages unless they are constantly repeated and it seems
that Passion 99.5 does not really promote their station the way other stations
do, such as the RCS stations. Passion 99.5 does publicise their station via
the media such as printed advertisements on buses, printed flyers available
at places such as theatres and other performance spaces. One of their more visible
promotional efforts is probably their alliance with organisation of arts events
such as WOMAD, the Singapore Arts Festival and so on. This is likely to be because
the events themselves get extensive publicity and the large numbers of people
who attend see the sponsorship or involvement of Passion 99.5.
Another likely reason for the lack of knowledge or interest amongst the survey
respondents is the image of the station. Put simply, Passion 99.5 is not a radio
station with prominent celebrity deejays or presenters. Thus it does not attract
listeners who are fans of particular presenters, the way people might tune in
to, say, Class 95 just to catch Joe & the Flying Dutchman on the Morning
Show.
It is rather accurate, then, to describe the station the way many of the people
surveyed have - "non-mainstream" or "non-commercialised".
Passion 99.5 leans more towards being a "public" radio station than
a commercial, or your usual profit-generating one. As mentioned, its objectives
are less for pure entertainment and more for extending the reach of the National
Arts Council. I was not surprised then, that it had a presence only amongst
people involved or interested in the arts scene - the "arty" people.
From the survey, it seems that the sort of music and programmes, which are popular
amongst the target audience, are not available on Passion 99.5. Music was indicated
as being the most important component of radio, more so than information. Thus,
it seems having access to arts news, while desired, is not enough to pull listeners
to the station, and most people feel other channels and media are better ways
of staying in touch with the arts scene. Furthermore, the music on Passion 99.5
did not seem to appeal to many of the respondents. However, the station's distinctiveness
was useful for inciting curiosity, the reason many who had never tuned in before
would consider doing it - they want a change from commercial stations.
Possible suggestions
Most of the apathy towards the station and fact people do not tune in is due
to the lack of awareness. The station that aims to be a channel and raise awareness
of the arts must first be visible itself, in order to have a voice in the community.
Many respondents to the survey indicated that they would tune in to the station;
they just had not known of it before. Many also said they felt it was a good
way to stay in touch with the quickly renewing arts scene in Singapore. It is
evident that more publicity would do the station good in terms of listenership
and raising its profile. However, as I found out, they are limited by the problem
of funding.
I mentioned to Serene Chen that they might convert their existing website, made
up of an introductory page and a page with their programme schedule, to keep
up with the other more interactive ones, such as those of the RCS station. She
agreed that additions such as more information on the station's events, features
and presenters would be an improvement, as would streaming audio and the like,
as this would help them stay relevant to the younger internet-surfing audience.
However, this is still not possibly, as yet, due to funding problems. However,
being a "station for the arts", I would not recommend that the station
promote themselves the way RCS stations do, or try to adopt a similar image,
simply because it would not be suitable. It is still important, amidst trying
to raise their profile, to distinguish the station from any other station. In
fact, the station does try to make this distinction from other station that
might play jazz, local or world music by having longer belts of music.
Problems and Limitations
Being a young station, there is a lack of figures reflecting trends in listening
habits of their audience, or whether the numbers have been fluctuating. How
often listeners tune in or which are the more popular segments is not known
either. In addition, on my part, I acknowledge the limitations of the survey.
I chose people falling in the target age range but realistically, could not
reach out to people spanning the entire range. However, the population sample
is moderate since they range in age from 19 to 25, include a good mix of both
genders and include people from various fields of work/study. Also it might
be a little premature to judge the response of the promotional effort of the
station, seeing as it is young and therefore less established.
In terms of reaching out to their target audience, I feel that staying in line
with its aims would prevent the station from attracting listeners by playing
the popular types of music or having popular segments such as song dedication
or talking about personal problems. I suppose the objectives of the station
limit the potential audience to those with an interest in the arts, since those
who are disinterested would have little incentive, in terms of entertainment
value or music played, to tune in and get interested in the arts.
Conclusion
Passion 99.5 is a station that tries and manages to keep in line with its objectives.
It is young, and so far, I would say it is doing sufficiently well. However,
there is more than could be done to make it an even better and more visible
channel for the arts. But I feel it had a well-planned and relevant format,
distinguishable from others and relevant to its audience.
Resources
· Passion 99.5 official website [http://www.nac.gov.sg/passion/index.html]
· Official schedule listings in The Straits Times and 8 Days Magazine
· Interview with Serene Chen, Producer-Presenter of Passion 99.5
· Survey of 78 aged 19 to 25(falling under target audience group)
· Official Fact Sheet released by Passion 99.5
Appendix A - Interview questions
Nanyang Technological University
School of Communication Studies
Interview Questions
1. I understand that the station's slogan is "The station for the Arts". How does the station go about achieving this identity?
2. What are the aims and objectives of the station?
3. Who does your target audience comprise of? For example, does the station target a very specialised audience such as the young people or those who consider themselves "arty" types?
4. What are the listenership rates for an average weekday and weekend? Does your actual listening audience differ from your target audience?
5. Has the number of listeners been constantly around a steady figure or as it been increasing/decreasing?
6. How often do you think your listeners tune in per week? How many hours do you think they tune in each time? Please give a personal estimate (not actual figures!)
7. Which is/are your station's most popular programmes/segments? During which time belts do most listeners tune in? Why?
8. How does the station distinguish itself from other stations, which may have segments of music similar to what you play, such as Jazz or Latin music?
9. How are Passion 99.5's programmes planned, with the station's aims and target audience in mind?
10. Are there plans for new programmes to be introduced to keep your listeners or attract new ones?
11. What promotional activities do the station have to make people aware of the station and induce them to tune in, or keep tuning in? Who handles most of them, the station itself or the NAC?
12. Where does the station get most of its funding/revenue? Advertisers or the NAC?
13. Your station's website is part of the NAC's website, and nothing other than a weekly schedule is offered. Do you think having a more informative and interactive website would help garner more listeners, since more Singaporeans are logging onto the Net? Do you think it's necessary?
14. Your station did some live coverage on the happenings at Fort Canning during WOMAD 2000. What other special programmes do you have, other than guests in the studio? What are the aims of having such special programmes?
15. Any other comments?
Thank you very much for your time! J
Appendix B - Survey
Survey on Passion 99.5
Age: _________________ Occupation: _________________
1. Do you know which organisation runs the radio station? Please name it_________
2. What is your main impression of the programming on Passion 99.5? What does it consist of or feature? What types of music? Give a few examples.
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. Who do you think the station is tries to cater to, meaning who is their target
audience?
__________________________________________________________________
4. Have you seen Passion 99.5 being promoted? In what form or which media?
__________________________________________________________________
5. How often do you tune in to Passion 99.5?
1I have never tuned in before (If you picked this response, please indicate
reason)
Reason: ________________________________________________________
1I have tuned in before, but less than 5 times
1I tune in whenever they have a special programme/special guest
1. (Please give an example: ___________________________________________)
1I tune in on a regular basis
1Others (Please elaborate____________________________________________)
6. What is the main reason you tune in to Passion 99.5, most of the time?
1The programme content
1The range of music
1Because there isn't anything better to listen to
1Others (Please elaborate____________________________________________)
7. What do you like most about the station?
1Nothing, I don't feel it's very relevant/interesting
1Don't know enough to comment
1The programmes/music
1The presenters
1Others (Please elaborate____________________________________________)
8. Which segment(s) do you like/listen to most on Passion 99.5?
__________________________________________________________________
9. What kind(s) of music do you prefer? Please indicate by placing numbers
in the boxes
(1 being most preferred). Leave out types you don't listen to.
1Contemporary/Top 40/Pop 1Country/Easy listening 1World/Folk
1Rock 1Chinese music/pop 1Jazz/Blues
1Alternative 1Techno/Dance 1Malay music/pop
1Classical 1R&B/Soul/Hip-Hop 1Indian music/pop
1Others
(Please specify_____________________________________________)
10. Which radio programmes do you prefer?
1News/Weather/Traffic
1Talk shows about current affairs/issues/events (including "phone-in-with-your-views"
type of programmes)
1Talk shows dealing with more personal issues, such as love/family problems.
1Song dedication segments (including phone-in dedications)
1Contest/Games
1Story-telling/Radio plays/Fiction
1Introducing artistes/albums/events
1Others (Please indicate_____________________________________________)
11. How much do you rely on radio and other media for obtaining information?
Please choose the option that most accurately represents how you obtain information.
(Information = News/Events/Personalities/Current issues)
1I get most/all of my information from the radio
1I get a little information from the radio, but most of it comes from TV
1I get some information from the radio, and the rest comes from TV
1I get a little information from the radio, but most of it comes from the Internet
1I get some information from the radio, and the rest comes from the Internet
1I get a little information from the radio, but most of it comes from print
media
1I get some information from the radio, and the rest comes from print media
1I get a little information from the radio, but most of it comes from a mix
of ______________________________________ (Please specify)
1I get some information from the radio, and the rest comes from a mix of ______________________________________
(Please specify)
12. How often do you listen to the radio? (Not because it happened to be on,
or someone else turned it on)
1Never or seldom
1Once or twice a week
1Three to five days a week
1Just about everyday
13. How long do you tune in each time?
1Less than or up to an hour
1One to three hours
1Four to six hours
1The radio is on most of the time
1Others (Please specify_____________________________________________)
14. Please describe your listening habits.
1I listen actively and pay full attention to what is being said/played
1I pay some attention, or in short bursts. When a familiar song is played or
interesting comment made, I'll notice and pay more attention.
1I don't really pay attention unless something really grabs my attention, such
as loud noise or a really spectacular advertisement
1The radio is usually on in the background, regardless of what I'm doing
1Others (Please describe___________________________________________)
15. Which radio station(s) do you tune in to? Please list in descending order, from most frequent to least frequent.
__________________________________________________________________
16. Do you consider yourself an "arty" person, meaning, are you interested in happenings/events in the local arts scene or industry? If so, what do you think is the best way of keeping up with such news?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
17. Would you tune in to Passion 99.5 (if you don't already) if you knew you could get lots of information about the arts events/news in Singapore, hear about local artistes and music? Why or why not?
__________________________________________________________________
Thank you so much for your time! J
Angeline Soh
CS202 - Broadcast and Cable Media
Tutorial Group 3
Presentation Outline
Summary of transparencies
1. Presentation outline
· Topic
· Aims
· Introduction/Brief history
· Programming
· Survey
· Conclusion
2. Topic
3. Introduction
· The station
· Milestones
· Funding
· Audience
4. Programming
· Music programmes
· Information programmes
· Special features/promotions
5. Survey
· Results
· Analysis
· Recommendations
6. Conclusion