What Is a Radio Station?
In the past, when radio broadcasters were limited to broadcasting on a single analog AM or FM frequency, the concept of a “station” was unambiguous to broadcasters, advertisers, and audience alike. This is no longer necessarily the case—in the age of digital broadcasting, the lines that used to separate facility, technology, location, and programming are blurring. As these lines have begun to disappear, the radio marketplace has become increasingly focused upon trending and maximizing individual station performance.
Based upon input from our customers, the Arbitron Radio Advisory Council, the Media Rating Council®, advertisers, media buyers, consultants, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), and other industry groups, Arbitron plans to begin reporting estimates for digital radio stations in services based upon PPMTM data later this year.
The debut of digital radio station reporting will be a subject of great interest for Arbitron’s customers, the radio industry press, and the general marketplace alike, and is likely to intensify focus on individual station performance for both station and advertiser. This document “What Is a Radio Station” is being published to ensure that when speaking to customers or when speaking amongst workgroups internally, the correct terminology is being used to describe for whom Arbitron publishes audience estimates and to ensure that all workgroups share a common understanding of the critical business concept of a “station.”
To better understand how Arbitron defines radio stations, we must start at the beginning and think about Arbitron’s syndicated service.
What Is the “Syndicated Service”?
The term “Syndicated Service” refers to the currency
services provided by Arbitron; these services provide
the local radio Metro data upon which the buying and
selling of radio advertising is based. The syndicated
services are generally considered by the marketplace
to be Arbitron’s “primary” product line; examples of
reports produced as a part of the syndicated services
include Arbitron eBookSM, Maximi$er®, the PPM
Analysis ToolTM, ArbitrendsSM, and PPM
WeekliesTM.
Inside of Arbitron, the term “syndicated” is also used
to refer to the collection of policies, procedures,
processes, and operations that support the regular
production of syndicated service data. As such, the
term carries with it the expectation that the data will
exhibit the highest possible research quality.
Other products, reports, and studies prepared by
Arbitron’s Custom Research or Multimedia Services
organizations may be based upon syndicated service
data or methodology, but are not considered a part of
the syndicated service; as such, the business concept
of a station may or may not apply to specific custom
research customers or products.
Why Arbitron Reports Estimates for Radio Stations in the Syndicated Service
The primary customer base for Arbitron’s audience
information has been broadcast AM and FM radio
stations and radio advertising agencies. Over the
decades, this focus upon the radio marketplace has
guided the development of Arbitron’s methodology
and is reflected in the services that Arbitron offers,
each of which is tailor-made to fit the needs of a
certain segment of the radio industry.
While the measurement of other media is expected to
yield additional business opportunities, Arbitron’s
primary customer base (for the immediate future) will
continue to be radio stations and advertising agencies
that purchase radio.
When it comes to radio audience research, one size
truly does not fit all—research needs often vary
greatly from customer to customer and from station to
advertising agency. There are, however, some
research needs that are common to all constituencies,
the primary of which is that Arbitron continue to
report estimates for radio stations in the
syndicated services.Therefore, it is important that all workgroups share a
common understanding of the criteria by which
Arbitron defines a radio station.
In the radio industry, the term “digital station” is used
to collectively refer to HD-primary stations, HDmulticast stations, and to the Internet streams of radio
stations. As mentioned earlier, Arbitron plans to
begin reporting estimates for these digital radio
stations in services based upon PPM data starting
later this year.
When digital radio reporting begins, digital stations
that meet each of the station definition criteria will be
eligible for reporting in Arbitron’s syndicated
services. For HD-multicast stations, conformity to
these criteria is required by the terms of the station’s
licenses (the FCC has ruled that multicast stations are
subject to the same rules as FM stations); while the
FCC does not have jurisdiction to directly license
Internet streams, the Internet streams of FCC-licensed
radio stations that elect to conform to these guidelines
are also eligible for reporting in Arbitron’s syndicated
services.
How Digital Stations Are Identified in Arbitron’s Systems and Reports
To enable the reporting of digital stations in our
syndicated services, reference data for digital radio
stations will be entered into Arbitron’s radio station
information files prior to the Summer 2008/July 2008
survey periods. To allow for the digital station data to
be used by Arbitron’s internal processing systems and
external reporting applications, the digital station data
will be formatted no differently than AM or FM
station data. Arbitron has been developing policy,
procedures, and systems to support the reporting of
audience estimates for digital radio stations since
2002, with associates from a wide cross section of
Arbitron workgroups contributing to the effort.
One key need that Arbitron heard repeatedly from
customers during the development of digital radio
reporting policy is the need for digital station
estimates to be labeled uniquely and unambiguously
so that both station and advertiser will be able—at a
glance—to identify and trend performance of a
broadcaster’s analog broadcast station separately
from the analog station’s Internet stream or from the
station’s HD-multicast stations. To meet this need,
Arbitron has developed a new set of Band ID labels
with which report users will be able to identify
stations in the data pages of a Radio Market
Report/Arbitron eBook.
In Arbitron’s PPM Analysis Tool, digital stations will
be identified with a ‘reporting label’ that combines
the station’s FCC-licensed call sign and a short
description of the station, for example “WAAA-FM
Stream” or “WAAA-FM HD2.” When Arbitron
begins reporting estimates for digital radio stations, a station’s PPM Analysis Tool reporting label will also
be included in the station’s information profile
included in Arbitron eBook’s information pages.
Total Line Reporting—It’s All About Stations
It is easy to think of Total Line Reporting as the
reporting of estimates for common programming
aired over multiple stations, but it is actually
something quite different. Total Line Reporting is an
option available to 100% simulcasting radio stations
to have estimates for the individual stations combined
and reported via a single line in Arbitron’s services.
As Arbitron begins reporting estimates for digital
stations, it is critical that this concept be preserved;
effective in July 2008, Total Line Reporting will also
be offered as a reporting option to digital radio
stations that are 100% simulcast, including all
programming and commercials, for all of the stations’
broadcast hours.
Digital Radio and Arbitron’s Diary Service
Clearly reported digital station listening has been
included, in one form or another, in Persons Using
Radio estimates published in diary-based services
since 1999. However, Arbitron has not yet announced
a timetable for when estimates for digital radio
stations will be reported in syndicated services based
solely upon diary data. Until that time, Arbitron will
continue to analyze digital station listening reported
in diaries and use this information to further expand
and refine diary edit procedures. (Top-line
information regarding the incidence level of digital
radio listening reported in diary Metros is available to
subscribers upon request from Syndicated Standards
and Analysis.)