- •The Radio Industry
- •Determining the Use of Radio
- •The Creation of the rca
- •Government Regulation of Radio
- •Radio in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s
- •Network Programming
- •The Baby Boom, Radio, and Recordings
- •Ethics and Payola
- •Fm Radio and the Fragmentation of Rock Music
- •Challenges of Fragmentation and Digitization, 1970 to the Present
- •Internet radio a service in which streaming audio is distributed to digital devices that access the Web location
- •An Overview of the Terrestrial Radio Industry
- •Where and When People Listen to the Radio
- •Am vs. Fm Technology
- •Commercial Radio Stations vs. Noncommercial Radio Stations
- •Radio Market Size
- •Production in the Radio Industry
- •Radio Formats
- •Determining Listening Patterns
- •Working with Formats
- •Producing the Playlist
- •Conducting Research to Compile the Playlist
- •Maintaining the Format and Retaining the Target Audience
- •Distribution in the Radio Industry
- •The Role of Networks, Syndicators, and Format Networks
- •Learning Who Listens
- •Conducting Market Research to Determine Station Ratings
- •When Stations Fare Poorly in the Ratings
- •Radio and the New Digital World
- •Satellite Radio
- •Traditional Radio’s Responses to Digital Music
- •Commercial Time
- •Hd Radio
- •Internet Participation
- •Media Literacy and the Radio Industry
- •If you had to create an industry that streams music and talk formats to Americans, would the radio industry as it is now organized be what you would choose?
- •Questions for Discussion and Critical Thinking
- •Case Study
Case Study
RADIO'S PEOPLE METER RATINGS
The idea When Arbitron instituted portable people meter (PPM) ratings in Philadelphia and Houston in 2007, it changed the way advertisers and radio station owners thought of their audience. In Philadelphia, the first sets of ratings showed dramatic differences from the old diary method of keeping track of people's listening habits. Some stations even changed their formats because of the findings. The PPM is an example of how an audience measurement technology can change the nature of reality for a media industry about its audience. It caused a lot of controversy and deserves to be examined in more detail.
The method Using a periodical database, follow the discussions that radio and advertising executives have had over the past several years about problems with Arbitron’s diary method and with the benefits and problems that the PPM technology would bring. If everyone understood the problems with the diary method, why were station owners loath to move over to the portable people meter? What were problems that Arbitron found when it tried to implement the new technology? How hard was it to roll out the technology in Philadelphia, in Houston, and beyond? Is it right to assume that the PPM gives the radio stations and their advertisers the correct read on what stations are most popular and when? Do you think it represents the last word on radio ratings?
Write a report of your findings that addresses these questions and this more sociological one: In what ways does the PPM experience show how an audience measurement technology can change the nature of reality for a media industry about its audience?
How important do you think “localism" should be in radio? How would you describe what it should mean?
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