Rebecca Ann Lind, University of Illinois at Chicago

&

Norman J. Medoff, Northern Arizona University.

Because of its dual focus, our study is informed by two main streams of literature: studies regarding Internet use and the use of Web radio and the uses and gratifications perspective in mass media research.

Audience measurement of Internet users who visit radio Web sites is a relatively new area of study. Live Internet audio began on September 5, 1995 when Progressive Networks transmitted the Seattle Mariners and New York Yankees game online. The University of Kansas made history on December 3, 1994, when its student-run radio station went live on the internet 24 hours per day. Dallas station KLIF-AM entered the record books on September 9, 1995 as the first commercial radio station to netcast live continuous programming (AudioNet, 1997; Kaye & Medoff, 1999).

Early studies seem to indicate that some people use broadcast radio less and Web radio more (American Internet User Survey, 1997, Kaye, 1998), although this is reported by a small percentage of radio listeners. If this trend continues, however, it could have a sizable impact on the size of traditional radio’s audience.

A recent study conducted by Arbitron and Edison Media Research found that both Internet access and listening to radio and other audio programming has grown rapidly over the past six months. On-line radio/audio listenership penetration has doubled in six months. In July of 1998, 6% of survey respondents said that they have listened to radio on the Internet. The most recent survey (reported in February, 1999) found that 13% of all Americans have listened to Web radio. In addition, 23% of the respondents stated that they would be very interested in purchasing music CDs and tapes from radio station Web sites, an obvious advantage for an industry relying heavily on music as a key program element ("Internet radio listening," 1999).

There have been other studies conducted by university researchers that focus on broadcasters’ use of the Internet. A study by Bates and King (1996) explored how local television broadcasters are using the Web. Their findings show that television broadcasters did not create very sophisticated sites, did not make full use of the Web’s capabilities, and used their sites primarily to provide promotional material.

The Uses and Gratifications Perspective

It seems obvious that the uses and gratifications perspective is a valid one with which to study visitors’ use of radio station Web sites. Its focus is on what people do with the media, rather than on what the media do to people; it takes us out of the realm of thinking that the audience is passive, and it provides a way to understand the functions of not only the media in general but any particular medium.

One of the major assumptions of the uses and gratifications perspective is that of an active audience, an audience that does not merely absorb and accept any and all messages disseminated via the mass media. According to Katz & Foulkes (1962), the uses and gratifications "approach proceeds from the assumption that the social and psychological attributes of individuals and groups shape their use of the mass media rather than vice versa. This is the approach that asks the question, not 'What do the media do to people?' but rather 'What do people do with the media?'" (p. 378). This is an important distinction, a distinction which has guided much mass communication research since it was first put forth by Katz in 1959.

Numerous scholars have echoed and sometimes elaborated upon Katz' "what people do with the media" theme. For example, McQuail (1984) wrote that uses and gratifications "derives from a conviction that what is central for mass communication is not message-making or sending and not even the messages themselves, but the choice, reception and manner of response of the audience (p. 183). Rubin (1986) wrote, "some basic tenets of uses and gratifications . . . include the overriding belief that individuals differentially select and use communication vehicles to gratify or satisfy felt needs. Media and communication channel use is motivated behavior that performs certain functions for the individual users. People, not the media, are most influential in the relationship" (p. 281).

In their oft-quoted article, Katz, Blumler & Gurevitch described a model of the uses and gratifications approach as being concerned with (1) the social and psychological origins of (2) needs, which generate (3) expectations of (4) the mass media or other sources, which lead to (5) differential patterns of media exposure (or engagement in other activities), resulting in (6) need gratifications and (7) other consequences, perhaps mostly unintended ones" (1974, p. 20). The authors stated that researchers may use any one of the seven components as starting points. "…however varied [researchers'] individual points of departure, they all strive toward an assessment of media consumption in audience-related terms, rather than in technological, aesthetic, ideological, or other more or less 'elitist' terms" (p. 21).

Others have attempted to integrate the uses and gratifications traditions with other traditions, such as effects, expectancy-value, transactional, or agenda-setting research. For example, Galloway & Meek (1981) put forth an expectancy model of uses and gratifications which draws upon both the uses and gratifications and the expectancy traditions, and "includes assumptions about interaction, interdependence, and reciprocal influence rather than supremacy by either audience or media alone" (p. 446). Palmgreen & Rayburn's (1982) model also is an expectancy-value model, but it differentiates between gratifications sought and gratifications obtained.

McLeod & Becker (1974) wrote that a transactional model of uses and gratifications, on the other hand, would be appropriate. "A reasonable synthesis of the hypodermic and limited effects models, in which the exposure characteristics of the message combine with the orientations of the audience member in producing an effect, may be able to escape the unwarranted simplicities of each of the parent models" (p. 141). Likewise, Wenner (1985) wrote that a general transactional model describes broad systematic relationships guiding media consumption and their effects for the individual and society.

McCombs & Weaver (1985) suggested merging gratifications and agenda-setting, and Rosengren (1974) attempted to account for numerous social factors (both intra- and extra-individual factors) in an extremely complex, rather unwieldy model he described as "a somewhat more elaborate paradigm." Clearly, there is much variety in the uses and gratifications tradition!

of media use vary in sophistication and complexity, as well as in the exact dimensions contained within each typology. For example, some researchers prefer to categorize media use on an activity dimension as "active" or "passive" (Levy, 1978), or on an overall usage dimension, as "ritualized" or "instrumental" (Rubin & Rubin, 1985; Rubin, 1984), or even on a time dimension, as "immediate" or "delayed" gratifications (Schramm, 1949). It is more common, however, to create functional typologies based on the work of Lasswell and Wright.

Stanford (1984) used Blumler's (1979) three-category system of functions which includes "information, diversion, and personal guidance." Katz, Gurevitch & Haas (1973) created a five-part typology of audience needs, which may be related to functions: cognitive, affective, personal integrative, social integrative, and escapist. Rubin’s (1981) more complex nine-category typology incorporates these viewing motivations: program content, entertainment, relaxation, pass time/habit, information, escape, arousal, companionship, and social interaction.

Each of the functions or dimensions in these typologies generally are supported by multiple ideas. For example, survey items which would be considered to comprise parts of an "information" function would include those such as "I watch television to learn about the world around me," "I watch television to keep up with what local politicians are doing," "I watch television to find out what happened while I was asleep last night," and others.

Because of the relative underlying homogeneity of these functional typologies, and the basic similarity of individual items on questionnaires and surveys, we were able to borrow heavily from the literature when constructing the survey used in the present research.

The question then becomes, "What might be the typology of the functions of radio station Web site use?" Murphy (1998) focused on Web site visitors to rock- and classic rock formatted radio stations, and found six main types of reasons people visit such sites. The category Murphy called "It feels good to know" included knowledge of the radio personalities and the station, station activities and events, and information in general. Aesthetic appeal focused on visitor enjoyment of the visual aspects and graphic design of the Web site. Downloading appeal included listening to streamed audio or downloading other available audio or video clips. Entertainment appeal reflected visitors’ interest in diversion or having fun. Information appeal met visitors’ needs for facts and information that interested them, including programming information, music information, news, weather, and the like. Finally, interaction appeal reflects people’s desires to send the station or DJs email, join other listeners in chatrooms, or take part in contests

Because we are considering Web radio more broadly than rock and classic rock formats, we propose a different typology of gratifications of radio station use, one that includes five functional categories. Entertainment gratifications relate to relaxation, diversion, and having fun, and includes playing games and entering contests on line as well as downloading audio and video content. Information gratifications center on receiving content that is of a factual nature, such as local, national, international, entertainment, celebrity, and music-, sports- or weather-oriented news. These gratifications are also met by highly localized or specialized content such as school closings and traffic reports. All of this information may be housed directly on the station’s Web site, or it may be accessible via hyperlinks. Signal reception and enhancement gratifications are concerned with hearing the radio station’s live on-air signal through the visitor’s computer. Stations that stream audio may find listeners on the Web have tuned in to hear a local signal that otherwise would be of lesser quality or even unavailable, to hear a station from a distant location, or just to enjoy the novelty of receiving a signal through an alternate distribution system. Escape gratifications are those which indicate the visitor is attempting to become distracted or to alleviate boredom. Interaction gratifications are those involving communication between the visitor and the station, or between the visitor and other visitors. These take the form of email messages, chatrooms, on-line requests, and the like.