PARIS — In France, a study commissioned by SIRTI, an interest group of 165 French independent radio broadcasters, indicates that 94% of French people see radio as a universal right and 88% believe that listening to the radio must continue to happen completely anonymously — in other words, radio should remain free and independent of telephone networks and the internet, according to radiovisie.eu.
Conversely, 68% of the respondents said they would listen to FM or DAB + via smartphone, if this is made technically possible — but more than half of the French do not know that it is (theoretically) possible to listen to the radio on their smartphone already.
According to Alain Liberty, president of SIRTI, the study shows that the listeners are connected to the radio and that they want this model to continue to support them in their new media use. The listeners also want to see their anonymity and pluralism legally protected, according to the same article.
90 percent of the respondents think that the government must make every effort to ensure access to the radio in all situations, especially in the car — 70% are even convinced that “free access to radio media in vehicles” should be laid down in the constitution. Eighty-three % of the French listen to radio in the car, and use of smartphones for radio listening has grown to 23% of listeners.
