Bill Virgin's Radio Beat June 21, 2006

Includes archive of Bill Virgin's columns fromJ une 2006 - March 2009

Postby radiofan » Wed Jun 21, 2006 7:14 pm

Thursday, June 22, 2006

On Radio: New device would measure what is being listened to and when

By BILL VIRGIN
P-I REPORTER


Even as they pore over the numbers, and make decisions about hosts and formats based on them, radio executives love to grumble about the ratings and estimates of listening audiences compiled by The Arbitron Co.

How accurate can those numbers be, they grouse, when they're based on how willing and diligent people are about filling out a paper diary, not to mention whether they even know or remember what they've been listening to?

So now Arbitron wants to introduce a new system it says will be much more accurate not only in measuring radio listenership but consumers' exposure to other advertising.

For a variety of reasons, some in the radio industry may not like the new system any better.

Arbitron wants to begin rolling out what it calls Portable People Meters in Houston later this year; it would begin using the devices in Seattle-Tacoma in April 2009.

Radio ratings currently are compiled by paper surveys that people fill out. The quarterly sample size for Seattle-Tacoma is 3,690, although Arbitron spokesman Thom Mocarsky notes that in any one week during the 12-week survey period a twelfth of that total, or about 307, are filling out the diaries.

In contrast, Arbitron says it will furnish meters to 1,625 people, and the meters will be monitoring radio listening throughout the survey period rather than just in one week.

The PPM is a device, about the size of a cell phone, that records what people are listening to by picking up an inaudible signal. The PPM is placed in a docking station at the end of the day to transmit data to Arbitron.

Arbitron says the PPM system will be more accurate in measuring how people really listen to the radio -- such as switching between half a dozen stations by punching preset buttons on the car radio.



The rule for either the diaries or the PPM is that five minutes tuned into a station in a 15-minute period, even if broken up into smaller segments, counts. "The reality is people don't write down stuff at that discrete level," Mocarsky says.

The PPM will be able to measure not just radio listening but television viewing and how often people are exposed to other advertising messages such as billboards.

Arbitron has signed up some radio groups to use PPMs, including CBS Radio (operator of five stations locally), but it also is running into resistance with others. The Wall Street Journal noted this week that Clear Channel Communications, which is the nation's largest radio group and has stations in Seattle, issued its own request for proposals for audience-measurement systems and is evaluating finalists (some that may be able to detect all stations, not just those using the coding system).

Mike Gould is president of Eastlan Resources, a Wenatchee-based company that does radio audience research in small markets. He's watching the fight from the sidelines, since his company won't be using an electronic system. "If our product was more expensive, we'd price ourselves out of the market" of small broadcasters, he says.

That's one objection broadcasters are raising to PPMs, since the service could be much more expensive than the current paper-diaries approach. (Arbitron says it will provide the signal system free, and broadcasters don't have to be subscribers to its service to use it).

But Gould also believes the PPM is running into criticism because the results could shake up some long-standing conventional wisdom about radio listeners.

For example: Morning drive-time is considered the biggest listening audience, and radio stations pour most of their resources into building a high-profile show for that part of the day. Yet preliminary tests suggest afternoon drive may actually have a bigger audience, Gould says.

The amount of time people spend listening to radio during the day is the same under the PPM measurements as with paper diaries, Gould adds. But the number of stations they listen to within that time is about double what's commonly believed.

Gould says he expects pressure from advertisers will carry the argument in favor of the technology, not only because of the potential to get more accurate information but for the timeliness and specificity of data about listening patterns, in some cases down to the minute (which could tell researchers what commercials drive people away).

In other radio notes:


More changes at KIXI-AM (880), this time in the programming schedule. In July, Jim French's "Imagination Theatre" moves to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, while the "Twilight Zone" radio dramas move to 9 p.m. Sunday. "Broadway's Biggest Hits" goes to 6 p.m. Sunday. Other weekend specialty programs include "Martini Time" at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, and "The Ballroom Glitz" at 8 p.m. Saturday.

KIXI is dropping "Sounds of Sinatra" and "Elvis Only."


Mark Bowden, author of "Guests of the Ayatollah," is interviewed on "Weekday" at 9 a.m. today on KUOW-FM (94.9).


Dick Foley and Terry Lauber of the musical group The Brothers Four are the guests on "The Beat" at 2 p.m. today on KUOW-FM.


KOMO-TV news anchor Kathi Goertzen discusses her treatment for brain tumors on "Patient Power" at 8 a.m. Sunday on KVI-AM (570).


Lizz Sommars' guests on "Conversations" at 6 a.m. Sunday on KBSG-FM (97.3), KISW-FM (99.9) and KKWF-FM (100.7) include Elizabeth Grossman, author of a book on e-waste, "High Tech Trash."


The 9 p.m. Sunday edition of "Imagination Theatre" on KIXI-AM includes a new Harry Nile mystery.

P-I reporter Bill Virgin can be reached at 206-448-8319 or billvirgin@seattlepi.com.


Seattle P-I Radio Beat
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