As the war in Iraq intensified during the weekend, so has the radio coverage.

Radio listening in America has increased as a result of the Iraq War according to figures from Arbitron.

Listening on the 17th and 18th of March significantly exceeded average listening (all people 12+) in the hours between 7am and 2pm. (see graph)

Most music formats showed spikes at their top of the hour news time, particulary male orientated rock formats. Surprisingly talk formats showed a mixed response to war coverage, with some timeslots decreasing, presumably because the more ‘news-aware’ talk radio listeners went to seek information from TV in some timeslots.

CNN showed huge spikes during President Bush’s speech on the 17th March and again when war officially broke out.

In Australia, ABC Radio initiated regular Current Affairs ‘World Today’ updates during local radio’s weekend Grandstand program.

Weekend versions of AM and PM will be broadcast during the conflict, as will late Current Affairs specials at 10pm.

The quality of the extra ABC current affairs content has been high, with reporters in key locations and interviews with residents of Baghdad. John Highfield conducted a compelling interview with a man who was huddled in the cellar of his house with his children while Baghdad was under attack.

2UE Sydney, after losing the football broadcast rights, recently switched to weekend news and talk programming, dropping most of its live sport. This format has given the station the ability to cover the NSW state election and the Iraq war in greater detail on the weekend.

2GB has increased the length and number of its news bulletins during its weekend sport programming.