Poll hosted by Surveymonkey.com on behalf of Dancefloor Classics over a two week period in September 2011. Only one submission per person, i.p. or email address was allowed.

Dancefloor Classics Survey Analysis and conclusions / actions.  

The recently conducted survey into Dancefloor Classics provided some very useful and interesting feedback from our listeners.

Apart from the multiple choice Q&A, there was the opportunity for listeners to have a free say about likes and dislikes of the show format, features and music policy as well as suggesting new ideas for consideration.

Of course we acknowledge that the majority of participants in our survey were already listeners and therefore likely to be enjoying the program, or they wouldn’t be listening, but  we felt this was a valuable exercise to assess the popularity of individual features and whether or not we were getting the music policy right. As opposed to a top 40 station where the current charts largely dictate the music played, we are playing a niche genre to a specialist and discerning audience who love their soul music. It is important that our listeners like what we play and if they feel it is representative of the classic era.

Below is our analysis of the answers given and our intended action. 

Q1 - Where did you first hear about Dancefloor Classics 

These results show us that the majority of our listeners heard about the show on the Internet or by chance. 17.3% discovered it while browsing the Sky EPG while only 10.2% tuned in by recommendation. This indicates that some external promotional work or advertizing may need to be introduced to increase our audience figures.

 Q2. What is your favorite feature in the show? 

The results here indicate the popularity of features.

With 40.8% of the votes going to the weekly mix, there may be a case for the mix to be longer or to broadcast the occasional “mix special” with themed mixes or label and artist specials. Suggestions submitted by listeners will be taken into account.

Listener requests scored highly at 33.7% and demonstrates that the current policy of inviting audience participation in the selection of tunes is popular. This does not of course mean that the playing of every request is compulsory and the current policy of vetting them to fall in line with the music policy should be continued.

Baker’s choice follows the shows policy of playing the rarer selections and Brett was highly praised in the written submissions for his musical knowledge and selections therefore no change is proposed to this feature.

The Chiller proved to be the least popular feature gaining only 4.1% of the votes. Many people commented that it distracted from the upbeat flow of the show. Action is therefore proposed (See notes in conclusion).

  Q3. How do you listen? 

 Analyzing these results shows that 67.3% of all listeners surveyed listen only to the podcast, 30.6% listen live on Sky (combination of Sky only and those who listen on both mediums). Only 14.3% listen solely to the live Sky broadcast. Taking into account those who listen on both mediums, a massive 83.6% download the podcast. Only 2% use Sky plus to record the show.

Because Sky is essentially a TV network medium, our listeners or members of their family are more likely to be watching television than listening to the radio at that time on a Saturday evening, or the show may coincide with popular TV programs. This shows the importance of the podcast. The podcast offers the possibility to listen to the show at a more convenient time or place and on alternative more portable equipment.

Q4. What equipment do you use to listen to the show? 

Here we see that the mp3 player is the preferred listening medium, with the home pc next popular. 23.7% use external amplifiers and/or loudspeakers connected to their TV set to attain higher quality audio.

In the “Other” section, it was reported that many listeners connect their mp3 players to good quality external devices such as ipod docks into a hi-fi system while others connect their mp players to car stereos while commuting.

Q5.How important is sound quality to you? 

Combing the two most popular answers, very and extremely, 84.7% of listeners surveyed appreciate high quality sound, with only 15% showing indifference and 0% not bothered at all. It is therefore important that we maintain our policy of giving the best possible audio quality. In the written section asking how they rate the audio quality of the show it was the overwhelming response that it was rated very highly indeed with no complaints about technical quality whatsoever.

There were a few suggestions that the mp3 bit rate should be increased to 192kbps from the present 160kbps, however because of the larger file size this would mean longer download times for listeners and the requirement  to increase our storage capacity at Podbean  to allow for the previous week’s edition to remain available for 7 days on itunes. Given that our Lame encoder produces a very high quality of audio at 160kbps and the survey gave us such good reports in this category, there are no immediate plans to increase the bit rate which we feel would give an almost imperceptible improvement in quality at the expense of download times and storage space costs or reducing the number of shows available for download to one edition.

Q6. On average, how many songs do you recognize in each show? 

These results show that the majority of listeners are soul music fans who know their music. Although we play a fairly diverse selection of songs, many of which would not be familiar to the average listener to “top 40” or “Gold” stations, the music we play is recognized by most of our listeners with only 1% not recognizing any songs.

Q7. I would like to hear... 

These results show that the majority of our listeners are happy with the ratio of known / unknown music played with a slight swing to playing more rarities, rather than more commercial songs. Based upon these results and because the balance of know/unknown songs may vary slightly from one show to the next, no changes to format are required.

8. How many times do you listen to each episode? 

These results show that 70.5% of listeners repeat the show at least twice. Not only does this demonstrate the popularity of the show, it also is valuable information for the show sponsor who is getting repeat brand awareness with each play.

 Q10.How likely are you to recommend a friend to listen to the show?  

With 100% of listeners either likely to or already have recommended the show to other people this will result in a steady growth of audience figures for both Dancefloor Classics and Solar Radio.

Conclusion, Actions & Proposals. 

The overall results show that the majority of our listeners are very happy with most aspects of the show and many people said “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”   

However, the chiller received the most criticism with many commenting that it detracts from the upbeat nature of the show and was their least favorite feature. It has therefore been dropped and  three new features have been added,

Listeners like Les & Brett’s casual presentation style commenting that it feels like they are friends sitting around playing great tunes and listeners feel they are a part of the show. They also like to hear information about the artists but commented that some shows give more info than others. (Note) We will continue to research artists and give information, but sometimes there is none available or the artist has been played before and there is nothing new to say about them! 

The survey also showed that themed shows like the “All Brit-Funk” and “All Anthem” editions are very popular and should be more frequent. This will be taken on board and the frequency of such editions will be increased with invitations to listeners to send suggested titles to play. 

Listeners also like to hear guests on the show sighting Mike Gray and Paul Buick editions as interesting and informative. Whilst we take this on board, such shows can be difficult to arrange as the availability of the artist and the logistics of getting them to the recording of the show can be problematic. However efforts will be made to include guests on future shows. 

There were also suggestions such as a featured album. Given the 2 hour duration of the show incorporating the mix, Baker’s Choice, single feature spot and listener requests, we feel that at present there is insufficient airtime to justify playing multiple tracks from the same artist on a weekly basis. 

Many listeners commented that the show should be longer or more frequent. Whilst this cannot be ruled out in the future, for the time being there are no plans to extend broadcasting times preferring to keep it a Saturday night special.   

The three month “no repeat” rule is very popular with many people commenting on how fresh it keeps the show, avoiding the repetition experienced on other “club classics” shows. It was also appreciated that the full length version of songs are played rather than the shorter radio edits. 

New features:

1)    “My favorite disco” 

Name check a certain club or venue you visited in the 70’s or 80’s, giving a brief account of the special memory. Give the name of the club, the dj’s name (if known) and suggest a particular song to play on the show that takes you back to that club and the memory. Maybe it was the song that was playing when you met your partner, or a funny or strange experience you would like to share.  

3) "Under The Radar"

A non-jazz funk song that neverthless was played in the soul clubs thereby slipping "under the radar" of what would normally be played at such a venue. Artists such as Hall & Oates, Blondie (Rapture) and certain reggae records spring to mind. Listeners will be invited to suggest songs.

 2) "The Great 70's Sing-a-long"

A big soul hit from the 70's for you to sing along to at home! The lyrics will be posted on this website. All you need is a dummy mic (a hairbrush will do) and a mirror to watch yourself relive your youth!  You can also send pictures of yourself or your "group" peforming and have them posted on this website! 

Please e-mail your suggestions & requests for any of the above feature to:

lesadams@dancefloorclassics.com