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In article <13233@cbnewse.ATT.COM> liuzzo@cbnewse.ATT.COM (james.g.liuzzo)
 writes:
>I've always wondered how a radio station (shortwave, or local AM/FM)
>determines the size of its listening audience.  I guess the amount of mail
>received is one indication (one needs to then assume some proportion of the
>listeners typically send mail...e.g., 1%) but how reliable can that be?
>I've assumed that local stations may hire some pollster to do some survey
>of people in the listening area, but can that work for shortwave stations?
>Anyone out there know the facts?

     Listening audience is gaged by a companies like Birch or
Arbitron.  Birch will call households and ask "What station are
you listening to?"  Arbitron will send out 'Diaries' for
participats to fill out throughout the day.

     Arbitron puts out their results once every three months in
"The Book".  Stations live and die by this tabulation.  If you
get a bit rushed about seeing how you are doing, you can
subscribe to "Arbitrends".  Arbitrends (or the "Trends") are
progress reports that come out every month.  The "Book" is made
up of Trends that are averaged and Ethnic weighted.

     Books and Trends will also give information broken down
into "Dayparts".  Or how many is listening during certain hours
like 6a to 10a, or 3p to 7p, ect., and what age groups or
gender.  The Book will give more detail as in how listeners
broken down into cities.

     How much you can ask for a commercial is directly related
to your ranking in the Book.  Most National buyers (large
corperations) will not even look at a station that is not in the
top 10.

               Tim

--
Tim Pozar    Try also...
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