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Audience research should be an essential part of every broadcasting venture. However, many non-commercial radio stations hardly do audience research. Often time this is due to a lack of human resources and to a large extent also a lack of understanding and awareness of the nature, benefit, and role of audience research. By taking into consideration the special nature of non-commercial Christian local radio stations in Norway, this research shows how these radio stations can simplify and adapt some of the available research methods to their needs and budget. After discussing, evaluating, and adapting surveys, panel studies, focus groups, and in-dept interviews, two of the methods are tested in two different radio stations. At the end of the discussion, a research toolbox is presented, which provides the stations with a plan for audience research over a three-year period. The toolbox also shows how the different research methods can be combined for a better audience research. Hopefully, this toolbox will benefit different types of non-commercial radio stations, whose main interest is reaching the audience with their message.

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MA, Communication, OCMS/University of Leeds, UK (2001). Former radio journalist and adviser in Norway and Bolivia. Currently associate professor at Gimlekollen School of Journalism and Communication, Kristiansand, Norway, and postgraduate consultant at Universidad San Francisco Xavier, Sucre, Bolivia.

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