Ethnicity

[TheRealOtherNeil]

I was on the Radio and Records website and it states that Atlanta's ethnic breakdown is as follows:
Black: 28.2
Hispanic: 8.3

Does this seem odd to anyone else? I think the black population is close (my own unscientific estimate is about 35-40%.) Hispanic should be closer to 25-30%.

Six of the top 10 stations are ethnic leaning (V103, Kiss 104.1, Hot 107.9, Praise, Smooth Jazz and the Be-yat.). Which leads me to conclude that either blacks listen to the radio more than any other group or the number in Arbitrion is grossly under-represented? Me thinks the latter.

Currently there is no real measuring tool for Hispanics (I'm not going racist or political here, just stating facts) as there are new Hispanics coming here everyday. Are illegals counted in Arbitron studies? If not, why not since they do listen. Just drive anywhere in the Kingdom of Gwinnett and you will hear Spanish more often than English.

I know we all say that Arbitron gets it wrong about 99.9% of the time but can ratings really is trusted if the population counts are incorrect?

Discuss...

See I didn't even mention Michelle Engel or DAVE-FM. (****, I just did.)

 

[middlega]

I was on the Radio and Records website and it states that Atlanta's ethnic breakdown is as follows:
Black: 28.2
Hispanic: 8.3

Does this seem odd to anyone else? I think the black population is close (my own unscientific estimate is about 35-40%.) Hispanic should be closer to 25-30%.

Off-hand, I'd say you're drawing your conclusions based too much on ITP/southside counties and not enough on the OTP/northside counties that also make up a significant portion of the Atlanta Metro. While Clayton (62%), DeKalb (56%), and Fulton (43%) (based on 2005 estimates), are in the range you're estimating for black population, the total percentage for the metro is driven back down to the Arb estimate by Forsyth (2%), Cherokee (5%), Gwinnett (19%), Cobb (23%), and so forth.

Similar thing happens with the Hispanic estimates, as Gwinnett, Clayton, Cobb, and DeKalb are the only counties in the Metro that are at or higher than 8.3% (even Fulton is just 7.4% Hispanic).

Which leads me to conclude that either blacks listen to the radio more than any other group or the number in Arbitrion is grossly under-represented?

Latest figures I see (http://arbitronratings.com/radio_stations/reference_metroinfo.htm)
show blacks in Atlanta with about 33% higher TSL than whites, while Hispanic-primary Spanish have TSL roughly 50% higher than whites. In short, yes, pretty much every ethnic group of any size in Atlanta (and most of the rest of the country) are heavier radio users than whites.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

I believe Arbitron gets its population numbers from the census. In any case, it's not Arbitron's count. You do have to have a home (not cell) telephone to be in the Arbitron sample.

 

[littlejohn]

Usinmg the lower of the 'unscientific' numbers, we'd have 35% plus 25%, making the market a mojority nonwhite market. I don't think it is. Consequently, I'll go with the Census, and scale the Hispanic up slightly for illegals. However, stations tend to put on what they think is going to attract advertisers. 6 stations out of about twenty or so is a third, which is about the nonwhite percentage, no? That they are int he top ten says they know what they're doing.

 

[FloydB]

This is also not taking into account that many younger age demos of whites are listening to more rap, hip-hop and R&B than previous generations. With that, you have a listener shift due to genre and not for racial demographic (i.e. WBTS). Even Top 40 leans more towards rap, hip-hop and R&B than ever before because of this.

 

[littlejohn]

rap and hiphop are not 'Black' usic. They are teen's music. They've gone beyond color in appeal. Just as we grew opur hair long and listened to The Beatles at top volume, today's kids go for the 'gangsta' look and listen to Young Jeezy at top volume. For the same reason: To differentiate themselves from their parents.
Consequently, a teen appeal format will have a lot of rap and hiphop in it.

 

[davideduardo]

I believe Arbitron gets its population numbers from the census. In any case, it's not Arbitron's count. You do have to have a home (not cell) telephone to be in the Arbitron sample.

Arbitron gets its between-Census year data (updated each year in the Fall book) from Claritas, which processes the Census Bureau mid year estimates and adds in other data to predict population, such as vehicle registrations, etc.

Arbitron uses RDD (Random Digit Dialing) to recruit diarkeepers or PPM panelists. All in-service residential or personal numbers with local area codes are "in play" including cellular phones.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

All in-service residential or personal numbers with local area codes are "in play" including cellular phones.

If you're correct about that, it had to be very recent.

 

[davideduardo]

All in-service residential or personal numbers with local area codes are "in play" including cellular phones.

If you're correct about that, it had to be very recent.

They have been using RDD for the better part of a decade, cellulars have been folded in in the last 2 years.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

cellulars have been folded in in the last 2 years

I'll take your word for it, but I've been attending a luncheon put on after the spring and fall books by CBS Radio for several years. At the latest one I attended, in February, Charlie Sisson of The Research Director, who presents the analysis of the book, asked how many people had cell phones and not home phones. A few hands went up, and Charlie said that's a growing problem that Arbitron is working to solve; that Arbitron's inability to capture those people hurts the representativeness of its sample.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Get answers to important questions like:

How pervasive are cell-phone-only households?

What are some of the specific complications of measuring cell-phone-only households?

What kind of cell phone research has Arbitron completed to date, and what is planned going forward?

Also Available: Cell Phones in the Radio Sample: Challenges and Directions, Progress Report 1
The first in a series of updates on Arbitron’s efforts to address the issue of cell-phone-only homes in the sample frame (PDF).

If you go to Arbitron.com and type "cell phone" in the search box, you'll see that Arbitron is still grappling with how to include cell phone-only homes in its sample. As of today, the home needs to have a telephone to be in the sample. I was able to copy the quotes above from the Arbitron site, but the Progress Report 1 referenced above, which is in a PDF file, explains the reasons getting cell-only households into the sample still presents a challenge.

 

[davideduardo]

Get answers to important questions like:

How pervasive are cell-phone-only households?

What are some of the specific complications of measuring cell-phone-only households?

What kind of cell phone research has Arbitron completed to date, and what is planned going forward?

Also Available: Cell Phones in the Radio Sample: Challenges and Directions, Progress Report 1
The first in a series of updates on Arbitron’s efforts to address the issue of cell-phone-only homes in the sample frame (PDF).

If you go to Arbitron.com and type "cell phone" in the search box, you'll see that Arbitron is still grappling with how to include cell phone-only homes in its sample. As of today, the home needs to have a telephone to be in the sample. I was able to copy the quotes above from the Arbitron site, but the Progress Report 1 referenced above, which is in a PDF file, explains the reasons getting cell-only households into the sample still presents a challenge.

They are in the sample, and achieved by using RDD and including prefixes used in the metro.

 

[tcsnrayp]

Roddy... never question The Eduardo. He who knows all.

And tells all... check the numbers:

The Eduardo = 10,115 posts
Roddy The F = 707 posts

They are in the sample, and achieved by using RDD and including prefixes used in the metro.

 

[FloydB]

rap and hiphop are not 'Black' usic. They are teen's music. They've gone beyond color in appeal. Just as we grew opur hair long and listened to The Beatles at top volume, today's kids go for the 'gangsta' look and listen to Young Jeezy at top volume. For the same reason: To differentiate themselves from their parents.
Consequently, a teen appeal format will have a lot of rap and hiphop in it.

That's my point, that this particular music covers an age range, not just a racial demographic. The prior posts to mine indicated that the reason so many "urban" focused stations were due to racial makeup, not age demos. My generation included (early 30s) grew up on more Rap, R&B and Hip-Hop than other genres.

 

[davideduardo]

Get answers to important questions like:

How pervasive are cell-phone-only households?

What are some of the specific complications of measuring cell-phone-only households?

What kind of cell phone research has Arbitron completed to date, and what is planned going forward?

Also Available: Cell Phones in the Radio Sample: Challenges and Directions, Progress Report 1
The first in a series of updates on Arbitron’s efforts to address the issue of cell-phone-only homes in the sample frame (PDF).

If you go to Arbitron.com and type "cell phone" in the search box, you'll see that Arbitron is still grappling with how to include cell phone-only homes in its sample. As of today, the home needs to have a telephone to be in the sample. I was able to copy the quotes above from the Arbitron site, but the Progress Report 1 referenced above, which is in a PDF file, explains the reasons getting cell-only households into the sample still presents a challenge.

They are in the sample, and achieved by using RDD and including prefixes used in the metro.

With one quqlification... RDD generated numbers that correspond to cell phone prefixes have to be manually dialed. The RDD generator creates the numbers, but the number itself is not automatically dialed.

In 2008, Arbitron will begin attempting to reach cell-only homes; for the moment, most are duplicated in multi-phone households.