Getting to the nitty-gritty of listeners’ musical tastes

A while back I wrote about the influential “core values” research conducted by the Public Radio Program Directors Association, which aimed to understand what listeners to classical music radio appreciate most about their stations of choice. Those studies were useful because they helped classical programmers put themselves in their listeners’ shoes and get a handle on why exactly people listen at all.

But the studies were limited in scope — they assessed the value of classical radio only in general terms and stopped short of gauging reactions to specific musical works. Last year, however, PRPD unveiled the results of the Midday Classical Music Testing Project, a study that aimed to do just that. The study asked groups of listeners to rate a wide range of musical snippets as appealing or unappealing, and programmers at classical stations are now revising their music mixes to line up with the findings in an effort to improve midday listening.

The 309 listeners in four cities who participated already listened to classical during middays on the stations in their markets. With handheld units, they registered their reactions to 150 30-second musical samples, noting positive or negative appeal.

To some extent the results of the Midday Classical Music Testing Project affirmed the more general findings of the earlier Core Values studies. The researchers who summarized the study emphasize that most listeners to classical radio listen “not based on musicological descriptions, but on the sound and emotional impact of the music.” Classical radio audiences approach the music not from an intellectual or scholarly vantage point, but for entertainment, stress relief and mental clarity. PRPD’s research suggests that any music that interferes with these ends is likely to turn listeners away.

The creators and conductors of the midday research appear sensitive to the idea that the study aims to prevent certain composers, pieces or genres from ever seeing the light of day. In an article for Current, a trade publication covering public broadcasting, researcher Peter Dominowski wrote:

It cannot be overemphasized that this research tested sounds, not individual pieces of music. The findings will not become a list of “approved” pieces. We are not suggested that each station select identical music.

We were seeking to learn the characteristics of music that are most and least appealing so that programmers, rather than “flying blind,” can understand the impact of their midday selections and know what mixes will achieve their stations’ missions.

So what did the research find? The pieces that tested best were generally melodic, positive, uplifting, “bright” and traditionally classical in sound. They had what the research and programmers call “forward motion” — a logical sense of progression. Pieces that did not test well were perceived as dissonant, unstructured, frantic or aggressive. Listeners also disliked selections with an overly sentimental or schmaltzy sound. (PRPD’s website lists the appealing and unappealing qualities and even has audio samples intended to help programmers train their ears to hear the music the way listeners did.)

The study also asked listeners to sort themselves into “serious” and “casual” camps. Most serious listeners had listened to classical for more than 30 years, donated to stations and considered themselves “very knowledgeable” about the music. The casual listeners, on the other hand, were mostly not donors, did not have such long histories with classical and felt they knew less about the music.

How did these groups differ in their tastes? Perhaps surprisingly, not all that much. The study found considerable overlap in their responses to selections. Both serious and casual listeners enjoyed music with a purely classical sound. To the surprise of some programmers, the serious listeners, not the casual ones, actually had a greater tolerance for classical crossover. Some stations have played crossover thinking that the influence from other genres will help to reel in people less familiar with classical music. But the midday study suggests that that strategy may actually do more harm than good. Some programmers told me they’re now shying away from crossover during middays.

In my next post I’ll examine other lessons programmers took from the study and the impact that’s having on the sound of middays. In the meantime, you can check out the article in Current (PDF) in which Dominowski concisely summarized the study’s results, and PRPD’s website has lots more supporting materials as well. Also, here’s my first post about the PRPD Core Values research.