U. S. Radio (Jan-Dec 1960)

radio research An Over-the-Shoulder Glance At a Year of Radio Research y^ A quick, over the shoulder look sho^\•s that radio devoted a considerable amount of time and energy to research activities in 1959. The results of these efforts may be expected to exert their influence in the months ahead, u. s. radio has reflected much of this research on its editorial pages throughout the year. Here are some of the research highlights of 1959: December: u. s. radio survey of Negro stations shows the average station that programs 100 percent Negro material has 71.25 percent of its time sold in 1959 compared to 64.19 percent in 1958. (See Negro Radio Supplement.) Survey of 120 agencies sponsored by Phil Davis Musical Enterprises Inc., New York, shows 82.6 percent of respondents employ services of musical specialists when preparing musical commercials. (See Report From Agencies) . WKJF-FM Pittsburgh survey on audience listening habits, and WTMJFM Milwaukee survey on new fm family preferences. (See Report on FM) November: Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. studies changing market areas and develops a plan called Megatown, defined as a giant community area that is "influenced by and tied to a dominant central city." WBT Charlotte, N.C., studies same subject resulting in Total Market Concept. (See Mushrooming Markets.) October: Market Planning Corp. study for H-R Representatives Inc. shows housewives spend about 4 hours and 36 minutes daily listening to radio compared with 1 hour, 57 minutes reading newspapers. (See Housewives Listen, Too!) Family Advisory Staff of J. Walter Thompson Co. survey showing housewives listen to radio while they work — and principally to music (54 percent) and news (36.1 percent) . (See Ladies Day Fare.) September: RAB reports that sta tions are spending 30 percent more for programming in 1959 than in the previous year. (See Soundings.) KHFI-FM Austin survey of 22 Texas fm stations indicates a wide range of fm programming concepts. (See Report on FM.) Survey by Sindlinger &: Co. shows that radio listencrship surpassed tv viewing during month of July and part of August. (See Radio Research.) August: Nielsen research study shows that the so-called prime hours of 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. account for only 21 percent of listening throughout the day. (See What Will Fall Winds Bring?) IL\B study indicates that 78.5 percent of retail businesses and 67.3 percent of manufactuiing establishments have radios reaching 70 million workers while on-the-job. (See Report From RAB.) July: U.S. RADIO survey shows that average fm station which programs separately, or is an fm-only operation has 31.3 percent of its commercial time sold compared with 7.2 percent for average station that duplicates am programs. (See Will The Cash Register Ring For FM?) The average fm station reporting finds 83.5 percent of its business is local, and 16.5 percent is national. June: u.s. radio survey of farm stations shows that outlets with a farm director or specialist on the staff average 17.6 hours a week programming for the farmer. (See The Change Down On The Farm.) A. C. Nielsen Co. prepares ranking of the top 20 network radio clients by total home broadcasts and total commercial minutes for first time. (See Radio Research.) May: Dollar expenditures for local radio advertising have increased from S288.5 million in 1951 to S370 million in 1958 — a rise of 28.2 percent. (See Local Radio Phenomenon.) April: Adam Young Inc. devises plan designed to have advertising agencies define "advertiser areas," presumably a compromise between smaller metro areas and larger station coverage areas. (See The Young Proposal.) Motivation study in Houston, conducted by Dr. Bullock of Texas Southern University, shows if average Negro had 525,000 to spend in advertising, he would put the major share of the money — 43 percent — in radio. (See Soundings.) March: Figure for total households, and total radio households, for the end of 1958 in Canada is 4,196,100 according to the Bureau of Broadcast Measurement. (See Report From Canada.) Far West Surveys of San Francisco's KSAN sponsored survey of Bay area Negro families shows that 51.3 percent of those surveyed listen to radio from one to three hours a day. An additional 21 percent listen between four and six hours daily. (See Radio Research.) February: Nielsen study of weekend schedules points out that the percentage of homes reached by 10 spots, for example, increases from 15.4 percent to 15.4 percent to 20.2 percent when Sunday is substituted for Wednesday. (See ]Veekend Bonanza.) Pulse figures indicate that durino; summer of 1958 out-of-home listening added 28.3 percent to the in-home audience, compared with 25.7 percent the previous year. The figure for out-of-home listening in 1951 added only 17.3 percent to the in-home audience figures. (See Radio Research.) January: KAB ranks the top 15 spot users by dollar outlays, recording this data for the first time. (See Report From RAB.) \VOR New York sponsored study by Pulse discloses that 73.7 percent of housewives interviewed listen to radio on average day prior to shopping, compared with 35.1 percent who read newspapers before marketing. (See Radio: The Way to Food Shopper's Heart.) • • • U. S. RADIO January 1960 57