Giles

Simple question - like the TV neilson numbers, how are the numbers for radio listeners actually comprised?

mkdevo

i'm curious as well. i'm under the impression that it's pretty secretive, the way they do it.. Mike & The Mad Dog on WFAN in New York have brought up the topic before, but have said that they can't openly discuss how radio ratings are taken...

Absolut

They're done by a firm called Arbitron. They basically select a group of people and give them diaries to fill out that track their listening habits. From those diaries they compile an estimate of what the general public at large is listening to. For whatever reason radio hosts are not allowed to discuss the process on the air, I think it has something to do with not tampering with the process.

StuddThunders

Yeah. People who do it are not suppoed to talk about it, just as the TV watchers for Nielsen aren't allowed to tell people they are Nielsen TV watchers.

Giles

sounds very Fight Club-ish

StuddThunders

If you're reading this, the Arbitron and Nielsen people have found me.

I've said too much all ready. I hear the shock troops at my door.

clemente

Rule 8: If this is your first survey, you have to listen to Lite FM.