Radio showmanship (Jan-Dec 1946)

Record Details:

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have brought in (and kept in) many satisfied cHents. Having the facts readily avaihible showed one sponsor, who objected to his show being followed by a similar type show, that instead of harming his audience it was actually helping it. An undesirable cancellation was thus avoided. Comparison of audience composition data for several time periods on one of our stations with certain competing ones that, on the face of things, seemed to be more favorably placed and less expensive, showed that, actually, the reverse was true when the facts were known. The order was placed immediately for oiu" program and facilities. And knowing the facts recently caused an order on a competing station to be cancelled when it was demonstrated that an offered period on one of our stations would deliver more of the type audience desired than would the show originally piuxhased. The various ways in which research can benefit the station manager, the program manager, or the sales manager seldom show themselves twice in the same manner. If a manager, however, arms himself with research tools that are basic and complete, he will be able to find many uses for them. Biu it must be remembered that all the research data that can be collected is of no value in solving problems of station management if it is allowed to remain in a desk drawer collecting dust. The results desired come only from thorough understanding and application of the research findings. COVERAGE THE FIRST STEP liiK Iirst step in any research program undertaken by a local station manager should be that of determining the most basic of all radio measurements, the num])er of families who listen to his station and where they live. This is commotily known as the station's coverage. Two conce])ts are involved in any consideration of coverage. First, the area in which the physical signal of a station can be heard, and secondly, the area in which various numbers of listeners can be found. Engineering measurements can ad('(|uately answer tlic first concept. But the second has posed many problems. For years radio stations have used widely varied yardsticks not completelyacceptable to advertisers or agencies to measure their coverage. Today, however, a satisfactory answer is at hand in the Broadcast Measurement Bureau, formed to create a common yardstick for defining the location and number of all station and network audiences. In measuring station audiences, BMB uses the controlled-mail ballot technique designed to insure a representative sample. Afl counties in all 48 states are covered by the sample. The first BMB study was placed in the field this spring and the finished reports are expected to be in the hands of subscribers by the end of this year. CHART LISTENING HABITS /iFTER determining how many sid)scribers his station has, and where they are located through use of BMB data, a station manager has the necessary information to luidertake the second step in his research program; the determination of the listening habits of these subscribing families. Several methods are available, two of which are discussed below. The coincidental telephone method is the simplest and most widely used technique for obtaining ratings data. Basically, a rating is the percentage of total radio families who heard a specific program on some specified day or days. This information is not only useful in programming, bin very helpfid in sales. Reduced to its essentials, the coincidental method employs trained interviewers to make consecutive telephone calls dining the time the program is on the air. They ask respondents if their radios are turned on and, if so, what j>rogram is being heard. F'or obvious reasons these calls cannot be made too early in the morning or too late at night. The period usually covered is 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Ihey are also limited to the extent that they cannot include details concerning the listening habits of nontelephone and ruial families. A lechnicjue that can siq^ply information on almost all the program problems with which a station manager may be confronted is foimd in the Listener • 368 • RADIO S H OWM A NS H I P