Posts in "Hot Topics"
March 19, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Between surveys The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with outstanding oracles from XTRENDS – often find ourselves with a bit of free time. This provides an opportunity for pondering. And the question that arose was: why is FEBRUARY the shortest month? Why was it at the end of the line when they were handing out days?
Without going too far into the weeds, it’s all the fault of KING NUMA POMPILIUS. When they created the Roman calendar, they needed to add two months but did not want the entire year to be an even number, so FEBRUARY got the short end of the stick, so to speak.
For our purposes, we are dealing with a survey that began on the first of the month and ended on the 28th – leaving that pesky leap day to fend for itself. There was a three-day weekend to contend and, hopefully, we saw the return of normal listening patterns.
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March 18, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
So let’s address the elephant in the room. No, we’re not going to correct those folks who continue to call it Daylight Savings time. This is much more important than that. As we embark on our monthly foray into the latest NIELSEN numbers, it is vitally important that the current survey is pronounced correctly.
This is the FEBRUARY book. Note the placement of the “r” in that word. At the risk of dredging up horrible memories from phonetics class, the correct pronunciation is FEB-ROO-ARY. It is not FEB-YOU-ARY or FEH-BOO-WARY. These things are important (especially if you’re on the air somewhere).
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – in a tight-knit grouping with the wunderkind from XTRENDS – are here for the month previously mentioned. It ran from FEBRUARY 1ST through FEBRUARY 28TH, thereby covering all but that pesky leap day. It featured yet another federally mandated weekend, a hallmark holiday and (hopefully) the complete return to the norm of radio listening patterns. Let’s do this…
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March 14, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Voting for Black Americans doesn’t start at the polls on Election Day. There is a sense of responsibility and pride that goes into the process leading up to voting day. Politics in the Black community is one that comes with a lot of deep history that includes systemic barriers like gerrymandering that decreased the voting engagement in minority populations. Since the civil rights era, Black political activism and participation earned Black Americans some political and economic gains.
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March 7, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Edison Research recently released some of their “Share of Ear” data about the difference between AM/FM radio listening in urban versus rural areas. In short, rural residents spend more time with radio than urban ones do.
The radio industry has been guilty of having a big market bias for decades. Read More…
February 29, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Do you have unsold inventory on the weekends? Do you add this inventory to current ad campaigns as “added value?” If so, it’s time to show the value of this audience and stop giving it away for free.
We can show you how …
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February 23, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
“Oh, the weather outside is frightful …” – yeah, we can bury that lyric until NOVEMBER or so. Our long national holiday nightmare is over as the annual quarter hour migration begins. Balance is returning to the force. The radio continuum is coming back into alignment.
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC – along with the oracles of the algorithms from XTRENDS – bring you our final installment of the JANUARY gestalt. This 28-day period began on the fourth of the month and concluded on the 31st. There was a three-day weekend clogging up the works, people were back at the school bus stops, and football was all the rage. Here’s what happened next:
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February 22, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Followers of the JANUARY survey fall into two camps. The devotees of all things merry and bright are looking to see how the mighty have fallen. Those who rail against the scourge of the incessant jingling of bells (not to mention drumming of drums) are hoping to see the great quarter hour migration return to its original nesting grounds. (If you read this as if it was being narrated by DAVID ATTENBOROUGH, it makes a lot more sense.)
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC – along with math maestros from XTRENDS – are about to take you on a guided tour through another gang of five markets. This particular book ran from JANUARY 4th through JANUARY 31st and lacked any trace of the ghosts of CHRISTMAS past (looking at you, ELVIS). It did have a three-day weekend, saw the kids back on the bus, and featured plenty of football. Let us begin.
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February 21, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
With apologies to Ol’ Blue Eyes, this survey’s results can be sung to the tune of “riding high in HOLIDAY, shot down in JANUARY.” This whole holiday music thing has been going on for decades and, to this point, no one has cracked the code on keeping all that new cume from flowing back to their original sources. We certainly saw that in Part 1 of this here missive as the Santa stations lost a quarter or more of their previous cume. The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with the adroit algorithmic artists from XTRENDS – expect that trend to continue.
This is the survey that was, and it ran from JANUARY 4th through JANUARY 31st. Winter break ended, it was bitter cold, and it featured a mandatory three-day weekend. Here’s what happened once the big guy left the building:
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February 20, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
Let us be the first to wish you a Happy New Year! We know, we know, it’s FEBRUARY. However, we are about to embark on a mystical journey through the leavings of the JANUARY survey. The book where hope springs anew, where we celebrate the fact that the airwaves are no longer lousy with holly-infused tunes and (hopefully) when our temporarily former listeners return to their more familiar haunts. Yes, it is the annual winter migration of the quarter hours.
The Ratings Experts from RESEARCH DIRECTOR, INC. – along with the data diviners from XTRENDS – are back to regale you with folklore and fantasy for the period from JANUARY 4TH through JANUARY 31ST. This featured a return to school, a federally-mandated three-day weekend and playoff football! Our story begins here:
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February 15, 2024
Filed Under: Hot Topics
We know that a lot of radio listening occurs in the car. What is your audience doing on the weekend? Driving around in their car, running errands, shopping, transporting their kids to sporting events, or just having fun.
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