Variety radio directory (1938)

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PRODUCTION COOPERATIVE ANALYSIS OF BROADCASTING [WHAT IT IS AND DOES] Over a million seven hundred thousand interviews have been made by the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting since its founding in March, 1930. This is the largest number of consumer interviews ever made by one organization. The C.A.B. is an outgrowth of the 1929 activities of the Association of National Advertisers' Radio Committee. It is a mutual and non-profit organization operating under the supervision of a Governing Committee, two members of which are appointed by the president of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, and three members by the president of the A.N.A. This Committee has full charge of management and sets all policies, business as well as research. The subscribers comprise radio advertisers, agencies and networks. The cost is spread among them in proportion to their respective stakes in radio advertising. The average subscriber pays $100 per month for approximately 300 ratings (or about thirty cents apiece). Each rating which appears in the report is a percentage. To illustrate, simply: If out of each 100 set-owners who are called in the area covered by a given program 20 report that they heard it, then the rating which appears in the report is 20. The number of stations carrying a program does not effect the size of the rating. The field work is conducted by Crossley, Inc., a private research organization, on a contract basis. The governing committee maintains a permanent headquarters at 330 West 42nd Street, New York City, in charge of A. W. Lehman, manager. Ratings on practically all commercial network programs, daytime as well as evening, are reported to subscribers, in twenty-four semi-monthly and several more comprehensive reports which analyze programs by geographical sections, income levels, etc. In addition, the committee is constantly studying various ways in which to improve its reports and service and has spent about $20,000 in the last three and one-half years on experimental studies. During the past two years the C.A.B. has made two thorough-going studies of rural listening habits. Each of these surveys has consisted of over 20,000 interviews with setowners — 9,800 among farmers, 10.700 among residents of small towns whose average population is about 700. Currently the C.A.B. is making completed calls at the rate of 509,000 per year. These are made by 53 investigators in 33 cities, from Boston to San Francisco and New Orleans to Minneapolis. The calls are carefully distributed by income levels to parallel the distribution of radio sets among economic groups. Also they are distributed by geographical sections to correspond closely to the distribution of radio homes. The number made in each city varies according to the size of the city; for example, in New York and Chicago between 40,000 and 41,000 calls are completed each year, while in Spokane only about 5,400. In addition to the regular reporting service the C.A.B. supplies its subscribers with special analyses of almost every imaginable kind, such as ratings of specified transcribed or sustaining programs, cumulative ratings on local programs in various cities, and how listeners turn from one program to another. From time to time the C.A.B. issues special reports and ratings on important events, such as King Edward VIII's farewell address, the Louis-Braddock fight, political speeches, baseball games, etc. Another interesting and valuable service is the complete program history of all the 303