Live Radio Hub

Radio : Who Is Listening?

 As early as 1929, the question of listenership was of interest to broadcasters and advertisers alike. That year Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting (CAB), headed by Archibald M. Crossley, undertook a study to determine how many people were tuned to certain network radio programs. Information was gathered by phoning a preselected sample of homes. One of the things the survey found was that the majority of listening occurred evenings between 7:00 and 11:00 p.m. This became known as radio’s “prime time” until the 1950s. On the local station level, various methods were employed to collect audience data, including telephone interviews and mail-out questionnaires. However, only a nominal amount of actual audience research was attempted during the late 1920s and early 1930s. For the most part, just who was listening remained somewhat of a mystery until the late 1930s.



In 1938, C.E. Hooper, Inc. began the most formidable attempt up to that time to provide radio broadcasters with audience information. Like Crossley’s service, Hooper also used the telephone to accumulate listener data. CAB relied on listener recall; Hooper, however, required that interviewers make calls until they reached someone who was actually listening to the radio. This approach became known as the “coincidental” telephone method. Both survey services found their efforts limited by the fact that 40% of the radiolistening homes in the 1930s were without a telephone.

As World War II approached, another major ratings service, known as the Pulse, began to measure radio audience size. Unlike its competitors, Pulse collected information by conducting face-to-face interviews. Interest in audience research grew steadily throughout the 1930s and culminated in the establishment of the Office of Radio Research (ORR) in 1937. Funded by a Rockefeller Foundation grant, the ORR was headed by Paul F. Lazarsfeld, who was assisted by Hadley Cantril and Frank Stanton. The latter would go on to assume the presidency of CBS in 1946 and would serve in that capacity into the 1970s. Over a 10-year period, the ORR published several texts dealing with audience research findings and methodology. Among them were Lazarsfeld and Stanton’s multivolume Radio Research, which covered the periods of 1941–1943 and 1948–1949.

During the same decade, Lazarsfeld also published book-length reports on the public’s attitude toward radio: The People Look at Radio (1946) and Radio Listening in America (1948). Both works cast radio in a favorable light by concluding that most listeners felt the medium did an exemplary job. The Pulse and Hooper were the prevailing radio station rating services in the 1950s as the medium worked at regaining its footing following the meteoric rise of television.

 In 1965, Arbitron Ratings began measuring radio audience size through the use of a diary, which required respondents to document their listening habits over a seven-day period. By the 1970s, Arbitron reigned as the leading radio measurement company, whereas Hooper and Pulse faded from the scene. To provide the radio networks and their affiliates and advertisers with much-needed ratings information, Statistical Research, Inc., of New Jersey, introduced Radio’s All Dimension Audience Research (RADAR) in 1968. The company gathers its information through telephone interviews with more than 6000 households.

 In the 1990s, Arbitron retained its hold on first place among services measuring radio audiences, especially since the demise of Birch/ Scarborough, which gained considerable acceptance following its debut in the late 1970s. In 1991, this audience measurement company became yet another victim of the economic malaise.

Ratings companies must be reliable, and credibility is crucial to success. Therefore, measurement techniques must be tried and true. Information must be accurate, since millions of dollars are at stake. In 1963, the Broadcast Rating Council was established to monitor, audit, and accredit the various ratings companies. The council created performance standards to which rating services are expected to adhere. Those that fail to meet the council’s operating criteria are not accredited. A nonaccredited ratings service will seldom succeed. In 1982, the Broadcast Rating Council was renamed the Electronic Media Planning Council to reflect a connection with the ratings services dealing with the cable television industry.

Renamed the Media Rating Council (MRC) in 1997 to include Internet constituencies, the MRC’s declared purpose is (1) to secure for the industry and related users audience measurement services that are valid, reliable, and effective, (2) to avoid and determine minimum disclosure and ethical criteria for media audience measurement services, and (3) to provide and administer an audit system designed to inform users as to whether such audience measurements are conducted in conformance with the criteria and procedures developed.



The Ratings and Survey Services

The extreme fragmentation of today’s listening audience, created by the almost inestimable number of stations and formats, makes the job of research a complex but necessary one. All stations, regardless of size, must put forth an effort to acquaint themselves with the characteristics of the audience, says Edward J. Noonan, codirector, Survey Research Associates. “A station cannot operate in a vacuum. It has to know who is listening and why before making any serious programming changes.” Today, this information is made available through several ratings services and research companies. More stations depend on Arbitron audience surveys than any other.

Since the collapse of Birch/Scarborough, broadcasters have had little choice but to subscribe to Arbitron – that or go without the listening estimates on which so many agencies and advertisers rely. However, the radio audience survey industry has begun to expand, if only slowly. For example, in recent years, additional listener/ratings services have begun to emerge. AccuRatings is one example. It began to measure audiences in major metropolitan areas in the mid-1990s. Troy research is another. It relies on Internet-based research that involves online surveys pertaining to stations’ music playlists. Similar companies were beginning to surface to the relief of many broadcasters concerned with Arbitron’s hold. Arbitron’s dominance has indeed caused anxiety in the radio community. Many managers and programmers were more than disturbed by the failure of the alternative measurement service. Arbitron covers over 250 markets ranging in size from large to small. Arbitron claims over 2700 radio clients and a staff of 3000 interviewers who collect listening information from 2 million households across the country. All markets are measured at least once a year during the spring; however, larger markets are measured on an ongoing basis year round.

Until the early 1980s, metro markets traditionally were rated in the spring and fall. However, 6 months between surveys was considered too long in light of the volatile nature of the radio marketplace. To determine a station’s ranking, Arbitron follows an elaborate procedure. First, the parameters of the area to be surveyed are established. Arbitron sees fit to measure listening both in the city or urban center, which it refers to as the Metro Survey Area (MSA), and in the surrounding communities or suburbs, which it classifies Total Survey Area (TSA). Arbitron classifies a station’s primary listening locations as its Areas of Dominant Influence (ADI). Once the areas to be measured have been ascertained, the next thing Arbitron does is select a sample base composed of individuals to be queried regarding their listening habits. Metro-mail provides Arbitron with computer tapes that contain telephone and mailing lists from which the rating company derives its randomly selected sample. Arbitron conducts its surveys over a 3- to 4-week period, during which time new samples are selected weekly

When the sample has been established, a letter is sent to each targeted household. The replacement letter informs members of the sample that they have been selected to participate in a radio-listening survey and asks their cooperation. Within a couple of days after the letter has been received, an Arbitron interviewer calls to describe the purpose of the survey as well as to determine how many individuals aged 12 or older reside in the household. Upon receiving the go-ahead, Arbitron mails its 7-day survey diary, which requires respondees to log their listening habits. An incentive stipend of a dollar or two accompanies the document. The diary is simple to deal with, and the information it requests is quite basic: time (day/part) tuned to a station, station call letters or program name, whether AM or FM, and where listening occurred – car, home, elsewhere. Although the diary asks for information pertaining to age, sex, and residence, the actual identity or name of those participating is not requested.

Prior to the start of the survey, a representative of Arbitron makes a presurvey follow-up call to those who have agreed to participate. This is done to make certain that the diary has been received and that everyone involved understands how to maintain it. Another follow-up call is made during the middle of the survey week to ascertain if the diary is being kept and to remind each participant to return it promptly on completion of the survey. Outside the metro area, follow-ups take the form of a letter. The diaries are mailedto Beltsville, Maryland, for processing and computation.

 

 


Ready to stream

Select a station