Fort Wayne Radio Update

It happens twice a year in Market #104 and similar size cities. Radio stations put on their best face to attract listeners. But not just any listener, but those that are filling out radio listener surveys.

It is a 3 month long stint, with a different group of listeners each of the 13 weeks. The survey is done by an outside company, Arbitron, which then provides the information to the stations and advertising agencies for a fee.

Not all stations subscribe to Arbitron. If you don't subscribe, you can't use the data.

Lot's of TV commercials for radio stations are airing, and billboards have popped up over town and you may notice that some stations are offering money to listen, others are promoting their music, and this type of advertising seems to work for radio stations that want to increase their number of weekly listeners.

Then there is something else they want to increase and that is how long you listen. A friend of mine runs a country music station that was commercial free during the last rating period and they beat the established country radio station in certain demos. They also did heavy promotion with TV and appearances.

I'm still waiting to see if there is anything as exciting that will occur in the current ratings period that just started this month.

So far, a suburban radio station, WNUY has flipped to FM Talk featuring a local morning show with the same cast of characters that they had when they had a music format. Plus they have added a former WOWO afternoon co-host, The Queen, but so far her voice is rarely heard.

They will need to promote themselves if they want to make a difference, and I suggest the Billboard and TV route.

It will be August before we get the results and if you want the pluses and minuses of using ratings to determine where you should advertise, contact me and I'll fill you in. In the meantime, Happy Listening!

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