Which stations get listed in Arbitron?

[faderraider]

I was looking at the latest Arbitrons, Posted were a lot of stations who don't show any ratings in the market. Which stations get listed? Does a station have to be a subscriber to be listed? I noticed WJIB on there, wouldn't think they would be listed as WJIB runs as a listener supported station. I noticed WATD is not on there, anyone know why this is?

 

[raccoonradio]

I think a station may have to pay to be listed; WJIB (Bob B. can give the definitive answer) is supp.
licensed as a commercial station but prefers to be listener supported. I thought maybe WWZN
(prog talk etc) wasn't a subscriber but they did show up to a period or two (barely) in 6+. There
are some listings for stations outside the Boston area and also some streams and poss. HD2s show up

In '06 public and non-comm stations began to be listed

http://lists.bostonradio.org/pipermail/boston-radio-interest/2006-September/009553.html

 

[CTListener]

Satellite radio, too. I did a diary here in Market #52 back in 2010 and was told that specific Sirius XM channels should be written down. I assume the people meters can distinguish among Sirius XM channels as well.

 

[JIBGUY]

All stations are invited by Arbitron to transmit an inaudible signal, within their signal) that only people-meters can detect. All stations, including satellite, HD2's,3's and of course commercial and non-commercial AM's and FM's. - Those stations that never show up in the ratings are ones that chose NOT to send out Arbitron's people-meter signal. WJIB-740 is one of those, as WJIB has no use/need for ratings. The only other station that likely does not "encode" is WNTN-1550. - We all suspected the same for WWZN-1510 until they showed in a very small way for a brief period. Back to WJIB-740, it had more than a full integer (Larry G.-speak) at the time of switchover from diaries to people-meters. in January 2008.

 

[JIBGUY]

True, I've seen "WJIB" listed at the bottom, showing no audience. I don't know why it is shown, as WJIB has NEVER transmitted the encoded people-meter.

 

[CTListener]

All stations are invited by Arbitron to transmit an inaudible signal, within their signal) that only people-meters can detect. All stations, including satellite, HD2's,3's and of course commercial and non-commercial AM's and FM's. - Those stations that never show up in the ratings are ones that chose NOT to send out Arbitron's people-meter signal. WJIB-740 is one of those, as WJIB has no use/need for ratings. The only other station that likely does not "encode" is WNTN-1550. - We all suspected the same for WWZN-1510 until they showed in a very small way for a brief period. Back to WJIB-740, it had more than a full integer (Larry G.-speak) at the time of switchover from diaries to people-meters. in January 2008.

How did 740 rate as folk-rock WCAS? Or, for that matter, as full-service Wickus Island radio?

 

[Uncle Kaimbridge]

All stations are invited by Arbitron to transmit an inaudible signal, within their signal) that only people-meters can detect. All stations, including satellite, HD2's,3's and of course commercial and non-commercial AM's and FM's.

I wonder if the pirates are included in the invitation? :

 

[johnster]

Read down to the bottom...
http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/ppm_service.htm

My understanding is that though Sirius/XM have been offered the units they have always rejected them.

 

[4CX1000A]

I have often wondered how well Cape Cod's WFCC would show in the Boston ratings if it had an encoder. WFCC's format is essentially that of the old WCRB 102.5 in its last years, and WFCC's signal covers most of Plymouth County and some of Essex County as well.

 

[CTListener]

Read down to the bottom...
http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/ppm_service.htm

My understanding is that though Sirius/XM have been offered the units they have always rejected them.

Interesting. So they're depending on the smaller markets, which still employ diaries, to determine who's listening to what, or are they relying solely on data from their streamed service, which they can monitor independently of Arbitron?

So many of Sirius XM's programming decisions since the merger seem to have been the result of input by consultants (tighter playlists, greater emphasis on core, "safe" artists and songs) or an unquenchable desire from mainstream media "buzz" (giving non-radio celebrities their own shows or channels), that I'm beginning to think they might just decide to save the money they were paying Arbitron and just program the channels based on what works best on FM.

 

[4CX1000A]

Read down to the bottom...
http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/ppm_service.htm

My understanding is that though Sirius/XM have been offered the units they have always rejected them.

Interesting. So they're depending on the smaller markets, which still employ diaries, to determine who's listening to what, or are they relying solely on data from their streamed service, which they can monitor independently of Arbitron?

Sirius is a subscription service; they know who their subscribers are. I doubt Sirius has much need for Arbitron ratings.

 

[WNTIRadio]

I don't get why WJIB wouldn't encode just for the heck of it. Even if I had no use for ratings, it would be nice to know some kind of estimate of who's tuning in. Don't even need to subscribe, you'll get the topline numbers free on a site like this.

I have a few non-comms that don't subscribe but still encode. At least there is some idea of whether they're talking to themselves or not.

 

[JIBGUY]

I don't get why WJIB wouldn't encode just for the heck of it. Even if I had no use for ratings, it would be nice to know some kind of estimate of who's tuning in. Don't even need to subscribe, you'll get the topline numbers free on a site like this.

Arbitron does not pay the tech people to install it and maintain it. And there are contractual obligations if encodiung equipment breaks down, as to how fast it must be fixed. My attitude is: "life is simpler when one does businesses with as few companies as possible".
As to the other question above, 740 presently has more audience than any time since 1967. (and probably since 1948, but I have not seen ratings books older than 1967), all of this is quite contrary to what many people say about AM radio being dead.

 

[CTListener]

Read down to the bottom...
http://www.arbitron.com/portable_people_meters/ppm_service.htm

My understanding is that though Sirius/XM have been offered the units they have always rejected them.

Interesting. So they're depending on the smaller markets, which still employ diaries, to determine who's listening to what, or are they relying solely on data from their streamed service, which they can monitor independently of Arbitron?

Sirius is a subscription service; they know who their subscribers are. I doubt Sirius has much need for Arbitron ratings.

How do they decide which channels to drop when the opportunity arises to add a celebrity-branded channel, then? And don't forget that Sirius XM sells advertising time on some of its non-music channels. Surely the advertisers would like to know how many people are listening, no?

 

[Oldbones]

Sirius is a subscription service; they know who their subscribers are. I doubt Sirius has much need for Arbitron ratings.

They may know who their subscribers are (as well as their credit card #s), but they can't tell what channels they're listening to. I can't imagine they have any desire to waste bandwidth on streams that almost no one is listening to.

 

[CTListener]

Sirius is a subscription service; they know who their subscribers are. I doubt Sirius has much need for Arbitron ratings.

They may know who their subscribers are (as well as their credit card #s), but they can't tell what channels they're listening to. I can't imagine they have any desire to waste bandwidth on streams that almost no one is listening to.

Exactly. Which is why it's puzzling to read that they're not interested in the people meters, which, right or wrong, Arbitron is pushing as its audience-measuring tool of choice in an increasing number of markets. Madison Avenue has bought into it, corporate radio has bought into it, so resistance -- and logical thinking -- would appear to be futile.

 

[WNTIRadio]

Arbitron does not pay the tech people to install it and maintain it. And there are contractual obligations if encodiung equipment breaks down, as to how fast it must be fixed. My attitude is: "life is simpler when one does businesses with as few companies as possible".
As to the other question above, 740 presently has more audience than any time since 1967. (and probably since 1948, but I have not seen ratings books older than 1967), all of this is quite contrary to what many people say about AM radio being dead.

I have never thought AM was dead. The only thing that is dead on AM is most of the programming which comes off a satellite receiver or say, the Chinese gov't renting a station. I listen to WJIB (and others too) when I'm up in Boston, which is quite a lot. Used to program a standards station (the old Jukebox Radio in NJ) so it's nice to hear some of the music that isn't on the radio anywhere else, but deserves to be.

All things being equal though, with me being me, I'd still want to know some kind of number. But you're being you and the station pays for itself and provides a true service.

As an aside, it really isn't much to slap the encoders in with a couple of XLR patch cords and run the monitor off the mod monitor audio. As far as fixing the encoders, they give you a main and a backup... and if both are down, then you're just not encoding. I've had multiple clients running them for the past 5 years in some cases, and nary a failure of any of them.

 

[Eli Polonsky]

Those stations that never show up in the ratings are ones that chose NOT to send out Arbitron's people-meter signal. WJIB-740 is one of those, as WJIB has no use/need for ratings. The only other station that likely does not "encode" is WNTN-1550.

Most of the student-run college stations don't bother with it. The only ones that I know of in the area that do are WERS (student-hosted, but administration-run) and WHRB (commercially licensed).

 

[4CX1000A]

Arbitron does not pay the tech people to install it and maintain it. And there are contractual obligations if encodiung equipment breaks down, as to how fast it must be fixed. My attitude is: "life is simpler when one does businesses with as few companies as possible".
As to the other question above, 740 presently has more audience than any time since 1967. (and probably since 1948, but I have not seen ratings books older than 1967), all of this is quite contrary to what many people say about AM radio being dead.

Installation is simple, and there is no maintenance; the things just work.

But how do you know how big your audience is if you don't encode?

 

[kc1ih]

Sirius is a subscription service; they know who their subscribers are. I doubt Sirius has much need for Arbitron ratings.

They may know who their subscribers are (as well as their credit card #s), but they can't tell what channels they're listening to. I can't imagine they have any desire to waste bandwidth on streams that almost no one is listening to.

They can get some idea by how many people listen to their streams.