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dear mister Williams I hope you're well I'm Ed Lane
a 25-year-old station manager slash broadcaster
for base communications in martinsville virginia I've noticed your columns in radio
ink and would love to pick your brain for some advice
we work in a market with a population of 54,151
and an unemployment rate of 17 percent
still my other full-time team member and I have managed to generate revenue
we both cell and have a solid client base and put money on the books
we're both very passionate about having an on-air personality
focusing on local content and using our local content and on-air personalities
to sell and market our stations that said
we still run into a number of dilemmas which have hindered our ability to
further enhance our stations on-air content and revenue
number one we do not have any concrete method of proving how many people listen
to a radio station at one time
to we're looking for the best methods to gauge or add impact
in a manner where we can tell it works three
we have a number of clients who a partner in all time claimed quote
I haven't heard anything directly and quote from our customers about the ad
even if they have seen an increase in business please let me know what advice
you have on how we can answer and work through the issues we've listed above
so we can continue to not only help our own stations
but remain viable and work our way up the radio latter
sincerely at Lane at Augusta really good news for you
I was your age and in a very similar situation
and had the same questions about thirty years ago
you're facing priests Heisley the same problems I face to rate my here's what I
learnt
there are no concrete methods
for determining listenership the most reliable audience
estimates are still
just estimates even arbitron snoopy p.m.
assumes the electronic contract sample group is represented by the market as a
whole
that being said if we can determine what percentage of the american population
listens to the radio
each hour of the day we can apply those percentages to your population and
y la we help we'll have as credible
listening estimate as can be offered we can safely assume the habits and the
people in Martinsburg martinsville virginia your town
are basically the same as other American cities right good news
i'd type to the search string national
average a QH standing for average quarter hour
persons national average IQ eight persons using radio
and the 10th listing on the first page of Google result
was a wonderful 118 page PDF download
radio today 2011 now
Sean Taylor has already emailed everybody viewing today
a link to that download hope you've already downloaded
and you have that PDF download from Arbitron now a glance at the table
contents
sent me to page 106 our by
our lessening according to average quarter R rating
now have to understand the word rating
when the Jews by Arbitron doesn't mean
rank it doesn't mean who's number one whose number two whose number three is
number four
rating means what
percentage of the population is listening to the radio right now
in so if a person has a 1.0
rating that means one percent of all the people who breathed
air over the age of 12 are listening
so when you look at the population of the city
or the trade area in question total survey area
and you say what percentage of people who breathe air are tuned into the radio
right now
that's called your rating
now hour by hour listening every quarter are reading
that's right found a chart telling me exactly what percent of the American
population listen to the radio each hour the day
the happen on chart showed 13 to 15 percent of the people
lessening to the radio during any given average quarter hour between 7am
and 5 p.m. so guess what
radio even the most conservative the most country inches stations
tend to think I have morning drive starting at 6 a.m.
but there's a huge much much much much bigger audience listening after seven
then there is between six and seven there's a stunning number
radio alarm clock go off at 7 a.m. therefore
6829 a that's a very very narrow morning drive-time 6a 10a is actually far more
common
and again afternoon drive even a very conservative conscientious station in my
college say 4p
to 7p well
as you can see I from page 106
lie in scraps pretty sharply after 5p know my suspicion is
in bigger cities like Los Angeles or pittsburgh or you know the major
top 50 cities perhaps with heavy heavy afternoon traffic it takes a little
longer to get home
and so drive time and actually stretch 26 plane very few places too I think
it's as crowded on the roads
at seven so 6a to 7p
and
I'm willing to buy it honestly but you know what
the real guts at the ready audience a seven-day 25 p
now nobody's gonna sell you that does not
to have to sell for 6a to 7p now
that was a little aside for all the people that are listening that don't
sell radio
remember those core hours 7805 p
and the fluctuation goes up and down between 13 and 15 percent
%uh the people of North America or not only awake listening the radio
during those hours and a corset the rolling percent just not the same 13 to
15 percent all day
it's different people tuning in and out in an out and out and gold below 30 then
go about fifty percent
so it's impossible to really get screwed when you're buying radio between 7am 5p
now let's look at the population at Martinsville the city in question
as you know radio signals don't stop at the county line
your friend Ed Lane knows the population in the county we broadcast but
fortunately I found a government agency called on
the AW in why is it important is government agency
credibility I told you people want credibility and they want Rep relevance
credibility its government numbers they have no reason to mislead
people that are buying advertising so dawn
is an agency that helps communities and member facilities
identify emerging problems improve patient care and manage resources
and they left the 2010 8 metropolitan survey area at Martinsville
drum roll please at 69,000
859 people now that is 27 percent more people
that are good headline believed
they were listening in the crater they were there are living in the trade area
so yeah according to a government agency the Martinsville actually has in that
trade area six to nine thousand 159 people
27 percent bigger audience now based upon national listening patterns
30 to 50 percent population 7 a 25 p
and a very specific government declaration a population we now know
that somewhere between 9,000 in eighty-one
and 10579 persons
will be listening to the radio in Martinsville during the average quarter
hour between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
I teaching people and teaching you how to be resourceful
Quinn the information you're looking for
is it readily apparent it can always
always always be conjectured together
with credibility if you just use your
head now finding these numbers took me all
love 6 minutes the Martinsville trade area
and the average quarter hour average free radio in North America
30 percent to 50 percent now aid
all you have to do is named a listenable signals in your trade area
you to save your prospective client you know there's a KU
XYZ there's kabc there's KNP orders K
me and risque that guy over there 901 what you do about our station and these
other stations
what percentage of radio listeners do suspect might be listening to
my station at any given time just other people are listening
to the radio what percent you think maybe letting me instead those guys
now it if the prospect hates you
and want you to go way him a tiny number
don't let it bother you you were never gonna make that same hill anyway
get over it not everybody can be sold
but yet the prospect names a reasonable percentage now
again see to my pants the same
pants that said fifty percent of America its stupid
mouth breathing Lee stupid bone breaking Li
stupid cross-eyed stupid it's a guess
if the prospect named a reasonable percentage in
the same seat up and says what's reasonable and
anything from seven percent to 30 percent small town like Martinsville
it's only gonna have a relatively small number radio stations
there's no way you're doing so bad you got fewer than seven percent
I love the radio audience to you at any given time
Hector's probably only five stations in town and there's no way you can have
more than 30
does not gonna happen so anything between 7 percent and 30 percent seemed
reasonable to me
now you take those whatever number your your prospect make the pics a number
just
whatever number in here she picks apply it
to what we figured out earlier thirteen-percent your population is nine
thousand anyone people
to apply the percent to that and then as the low number
and then ten thousand 179 is the fifteen percent
your population number we came up with you have *** concrete the numbers can
possibly be offered
now you can show your prospect for you got your data
and if your prospects as I remember ten per centum listeners any given time
listening to your station
about 10 percent that would mean ed by
his own estimate your station has between 900 and
a listeners and 1,048 listeners
during the average commercial break we know the percentage that are listening
any given time in the nation 30 to 50 percent during the day
we now know the population for total trade area
if he names what percentage do those listeners a listening to you as opposed
to somebody else
if he says 10 percent you have between 908 listeners 1,048 listeners
and that is as accurate as anything
Arbitron has ever published just trust me on that run with it
there's always away there's always a way
to come up with credible numbers just use your head
don't just sit there and whine about it for god sake