U. S. Radio (Oct 1957-Dec 1958)

II program the sound difference in nighttime radio Let Program PM make a sound differ*nc« in your soles. Call AW. Donnenbaum Jr.,WBC-VP for Soles at MU 7-0808. WESTINGHOUSE BROADCASTING COMPANY, INC. radio ratings Pulse Approach to Gauging 'Out-oi-Home' Listening No matter what the old adage says, along Radio Row "out-of-home" is where the heart is. Just as the automobile radio has come to loom larger and larger in the AM picture during the last few "resurgence" years, the nation's ever-widening "out-of-home" listening habits have come to play a bigger part in industry thinking anil planning. Over at The Pulse, for instance. Dr. Sidney Roslow, the man who ring>> door bells to get his ratings, is coming up with more discoveries about the out-of-home factor in radio. Pulse has reason to be interested in the subject since "it was our 'out-of-honic' ratings tJ)at brought us the new .ABN radio contract." .Ml inter\iewing is done at home on the day after the day being measured. The Pulse inter\'iewer establishes what the family normally does: Who is home at what times, what is the normal dinner hour, who has s|)ecial meetings to attend, etc. On the basis of this inforni.ition. ciiccked always with more than one member of the family present, the interviewer proceeds to find out who was listning to radio, when they were listening and where they were listening during a gi\en part of the preceding day. The first Pulse report for ABN. incidentally, which is due in November, will also show audience composition and a weekly cumulative rating, wceklv total noii-diiplicated audience for "cross-theI)f)ard shows and monlhlv total nonduplicated iiiidirncc for wcckh shows. Baseball Audience The "out-oflionu" lector sliowed up significantly in a recent Pulse sur\ev midertaken on behalf of WCFI., Chicago. During a crucial three-game series between the ^ ankecs and White Sox. aired lixallv on radio e\(Iusi\clv bv WC'FI.. ilic r.uing ser\ice measured the station's shiire of-total radio audience in the Windy (aty and a six-county area. Two night games were played, with no tv coverage, and one afternoon same, with tv con'petim;. During the two niglit l)all ;;anu's. WTIFI. dominated the |)i(ture witii r.iiings of bciwctn I7.S .ind 'J t foi llic first game and between 9.3 and 20.7 for the second, which had a delayed start because of rain. Share cjf total audience ne\er went below 63%, and most often was around the 75% mark. However, for the third game, tv got the lion's share of over-all audience, although WCFL still made a strong showing in radio, with a share-of-audience hovering consistently around the 20% mark, which constituted dominance for half tJie game's playing time. The out-of-home figures, liiough, tell a different stor)'. During the two night games without local tv .coverage. oul-o(hoine listening accounted for between 10 and 15% of the total radio audience. But during the single day game, when W'CFL, competing with tv for an identical audience, suffered a rating drop of more than one-third, its percentage of out-of-liome listeners rose to between 50 and 54%, of total radio audience. Meaning, says Pulse, tliat when radio is thrown into direct competition with tv, watch out for that out-of home fact<ir. Where People Listen Wiiere do people listen to the radio when away from tJieir homes? .\ccording to Pulse, automobiles draw the biggest percentage in both smnmer ancf winter. Two samplings, one taken in Juh August. \9iiCh and one in |anuaryFebruary. 1957. showed little dilicrence in this important category, motorists rating 70% of the average out-ofhome audience in summer and 67% in winter. Listening at work takes second |)laie in winter with 16''^. but is tied with outdoor listening (to pcirtables. at beaches and parks, mostly) during tlie simimer. Both work and outdoor shareof-audience registered 10'^,' in [ulv.August. Retail places and ser\ice establishments— stores, bars, restaurants, etc. — conic next, reganfless of weather, with \0^'„ of audience in winter and 8**!, in suimner. X'isiting and other forms of oul-of home radio listening .■< count for the rcni.iiitdci -K; in summei, 2'\', in 60 U.S. li lino Oitober 1957