Radio is in ICU but the condition of the medium is not on life support or even critical, it's stable, according to a year-to-year comparison of different ratings companies. Harker Research came up with the idea of comparing one year trends in PPM markets, Arbitron diary markets and with recent Nielsen numbers. The comparison showed some surprises, including the condition of radio not being as dire as many people think. To represent PPM markets, Harker looked at the top five PPM markets since they could compare the latest month, June 2010, to a year ago. To represent diary markets they used five markets just outside the top 50 comparing spring 2010 to spring 2009. All total, that represented a large cross-section of listeners in large, medium and small markets. Some 70 million respondents were covered in large, medium and small markets. Now that is a sizeable sample...
While each service measures the same thing (Reach, Time Spent Listening or TSL and Average Quarter Hour or AQH) they always come up with different results. Arbitron reminds us that PPM ratings are based on audience estimates and should not be relied on for precise accuracy or precise representativeness of a demographic or radio market. What the comparison shows is that radio is just about where it was a year ago. There are no dynamic swings one way or another. In the 5 PPM markets, 12+ reach was up nearly 3%, in the Arbitron diary markets, reach was up slightly (+1.6%) and Nielsen was up 1%. All 3 services show a slight increase in the proportion of people listening to radio (reach). In TSL, PPM markets fell 4%, Arbitron diary markets were down 2% but Nielsen gained 3%. The TSL average showed a decline of less than a quarter-hour in the past year. The AQH rating in PPM markets is down a little over 2%, Arbitron diary markets were off slightly while Nielsen stations had an increase of 5%...
What does this all mean aside from what we all knew to begin with - numbers vary from study to study? What it means is that radio is not on life support but is in a holding pattern. About the same number of people listen to radio now as they did in 2009. They listen about the same length of time as they did in 2009, maybe off a quarter-hour. It's all in the eye of the beholder - is it partly cloudy or partly sunny? Is the glass half-empty or half-full? The fact that there's no growth is enough to worry about...
10 Timeline Memories:
1.1877] Phonograph sighting: Thomas Edison invents the phonograph and makes the 1st sound recording. Clive Davis signs the Tom Edison Band to a longterm contract...
2.1960] Looking for an echo: The first balloon satellite, Echo 1, is launched by the U.S...
3.1969] For Sale...SOLD: The Boston Celtics are sold for $6 million. The highest price for an NBA franchise at the time...
4.1977] O Solo Mio: The space shuttle Enterprise passes its first solo flight test by taking off atop a Boeing 747, separating and then touching down in the Mojave Desert...
5.1985] Disaster in the air: A crippled Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 on a domestic flight crashes into a mountain, killing 520...
6.1994] Strike 3 - You're out: Major league baseball players go on strike rather than allow team owners to limit their salaries. The strike lasts 232 days, cancelling the World Series for the 1st time in 90 years. Still a good baseball trivia question - who won the 1994 World Series? - no one!!!
7.1998] Justice served: Swiss banks agreed to pay $1.25 billion as restitution to Holocaust survivors to settle claims for their assets...
8.2000] Losing a nuke sub: The Russian nuclear sub Kursk and its 118-man crew are lost in the Barents Sea during naval exercises...
9.2004] "I am a gay American": New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey announces his resignation and acknowledges that he had an extramarital affair with a man...
10.2009] 'Happy Trails': Jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor, Les Paul dies of complications from pneumonia at the age of 94...
Music Memories:
•1967] Making their debut: Fleetwood Mac make their stage debut in Great Britain at the Windsor Jazz & Blues Festival. This clip is from 1970. This is not the Fleetwood Mac you're used to...
"Happy Birthday...happy birthday":
Pete Sampras (39), Peter Krause (45), Mark Knopfler (61), Sam Rosen (63), George Hamilton (71) and Charlie O'Donnell (78)...
Happy Anniversary Diane...
Timeline Countdown: 25 days until Labor Day, 28 days until the NFL opener (Minn. @ New Orleans) & 42 days until autumn arrives...
