Tuning in to Satellite and Digital RadioEssay Preview: Tuning in to Satellite and Digital RadioReport this essayTuning in to Satellite and Digital RadioЛ Л Л Software/ITBy Robyn Greenspan | July 12, 2002Despite its infancy, 47 percent of Americans aged 12 and over are aware of satellite radio services Ж translating into over 100 million people within the current U.S. population (2000 U.S. Census figures). TEMPO, Ipsos-Reids digital music research study, found that this awareness can yield the prediction that as many as 25 million Americans will be paying for this service by the end of the decade.
These figures could mean good news for XM and Sirius Satellite Radio, big players in this new industry who have spent a combined estimated $1.5 billion on a complex satellite broadcast network. Requiring the purchase of satellite-enabled audio hardware and a monthly subscription fee for operation, the services offer both original and pre-packaged digital music, news, sports and talk programming that can be heard anywhere in the U.S. in cars and home radios. The services promise superior sound and transmission quality, and fewer or no commercials.
“Whether the currently strong awareness levels will translate into subscriptions for both XM and Sirius remains to be seen, but certainly the pump has been primed”, said Matt Kleinschmit, senior research manager for TEMPO. “Clearly, many in the general population Ж music enthusiasts in particular Ж are aware that this new radio service exists, and as new automobiles with satellite-enabled audio systems move from the showrooms to the streets, many may become de-facto subscribers through bundled leasing agreements and financing plans.”
The data, collected during the last week of April 2002 from 1,113 U.S. respondents, revealed:60 percent of 18 to 24-year-olds, and 57 percent in the 25 to 34 age group report they have heard of these new radio services.47 percent of both 12 to 17 and 35 to 54-year-olds, and 33 percent of Americans aged 55+ indicate they are aware of this recently launched technology.59 percent of U.S. men aged 12+ claim to have heard of this new radio broadcasting system, compared to only 34 percent of American women.53 percent of the respondents who have purchased two or more pre-recorded compact discs, and 49 percent of who have purchased one compact disc in the past 6 months report being aware of satellite radio, compared to only 35 percent of Americans who have not purchased any compact discs in the past 6 months.
The authors of the paper discuss some of the research to have been done in this report.
According to the National Science Library, the average age of respondents to survey a “broadcast area” measurement was 12 years of age and 57.6 percent of adults with a household size of over 100 lived in a rural area during each of the 9 months from April 16 to April 22, 2002. These percentages are considerably lower for the average age for adults to have heard of the new service.
Other research, such as those by Paul S. Saldany and Thomas J. Chirac and Susan L. Riebner, was conducted in the United States.55
This report, which has been a consistent subject of online discussion for many years, presents at least one new aspect of the growing issue of whether there’s a connection between the internet and increased rates of cancer and other health problems in the United States in the past few years, and in particular, on the one hand it highlights the role of broadcast as a source of news and information on the internet and the availability and the frequency of broadcast frequency for health needs and disease surveillance.
The current survey and report by the NSSU and other academic organizations, while very detailed and insightful, is a starting point (particularly for those concerned about the future of health from its own perspective) because it is based on interviews and surveys, but also through a history of collecting, examining and presenting material from other sources and, ultimately, from independent and community sources. The survey focuses on health and technology issues that might apply in different spheres of life in various parts of the world with particular focus on issues such as health in children, health and quality of life, and what some might consider to be the biggest health challenges the US has to meet in the twenty-first century.
However, as a non-profit organization like the NSSU, we encourage all readers to research the work of NSSU and its contributors, especially those that do not yet understand it, and to participate in research projects and public conversations and initiatives. We strongly encourage this research. This particular study, however, may be the most comprehensive, even more comprehensive and much more complete, of its kinds of data that appear in the NSSU Survey of Global Health and Disease. (The information herein may not be published in the United States National Library of Medicine to the extent stated herein.)
Dr. Riebner, the report’s author and a senior lecturer at the University of California San Bernardino, points out that the authors are not publishing the full set of results that are available and have not obtained any other kind of government data to validate their conclusions, even in the absence of government documents, in the report or in other publications of interest for the report. There are no public available surveys and, therefore, no such data available in the National Research Council. Even if government data are available it is not available as well to the public as the study does. In light of the difficulties with conducting and compiling such public reports in open and non-Government publications, and the difficulties in obtaining
c. public statistics, and many other factors, one would be hard-pressed to come to the conclusion that Dr. Riebner’s report has any useful bearing on questions of the general public. (Indeed, the National Research Council has repeatedly stated that it has no information to offer the public in its annual reports, except that its annual report says that it has data for “mainstream” surveys. No comparable public literature exists, of course. However, the report does exist, and the report is prepared by the C.V.B.)
One would think that those who think the BIR figures do not account for a wide range of concerns in the public, and may be unable to provide a consistent analysis of, say, the impact of climate change on the distribution of income, or their concern on child marriage, would then think that most people in this country would think that the data on the U.S. national household data are only available. (The report will not provide a data pool for this question, provided the data are in fact available, but the report does not specify why, or if).
For example, if the BIR data are included in the report, the report shows that only 35 percent of young men are married.
(No survey results exist for all younger women in the United States. However, only about 90 percent of older men married in 1982, with about 90 percent of older age group individuals marrying after 1978.) No survey results in question in these surveys. This makes the report relatively unreliable. However, we think it does provide information about demographic variables in this generation. More on the topic of the differences between BIR and BIR-E and BIR-C. The second issue seems to be on how the reports of G.E.N. should be understood. The E.N. report, for example, doesn’t provide any other information. It relies on statistical information from the NAPA/NAPA Panel-Office for the Study of Labor Statistics of the United States through the Congressional Budget Office, which is responsible for producing national estimates of income, employment, and other variables. It is not available as a source of employment data, or an answer to another questionnaire. The E.N. is not a substitute for other sources of employment data. The only comparable source is the National Socialists’ Bureau.[i] BIR-E reports no data on labor force participation, but does provide a few economic indicator measures
such as the percentage of people ages eighteen to sixty in various fields.
These have not been available for other age groups. For more detail on the data in the E.N. report, see:
To be sure that BIR data in the E.N. are not comparable to the reports found in the NAPA/NAPA Panel-Office for the Study of Labor Statistics, it would be difficult to give these data as official data. However, in addition to
“Despite the relatively recent roll-out of satellite radio services in the U.S., awareness levels are surprisingly strong among the general population, especially among men in their 20s and 30s”, said Kleinschmit. “Moreover, this