Arbitron

In the world of radio, you live and die by "the ratings". Depending on the size of the region (or "market" in industry terms) your fate could be decided by as few as 150 randomly selected people. Heres how it basicly works; you get a diary that you fill out for 1 week listing the radio stations you listened to each day, the time of day you listened, and for how long. At the end of the week, you send the diary back to Arbitron.

Its far from perfect, and easily manipulated. Over the years I've known a few radio folks who managed to get onto a ratings panel in order to help or hurt a station, depending on where their loyalties were at the time. I had a friend at a station in the mid 80s who had access to 5 different Arbitron diaries and gave his station the highest ratings they ever had. Of course, if you live by the sword, you'll also die by the sword. The next time ratings came out, he didnt know anyone with a diary, and his station took a huge tumble. And, if Arbitron gets wind that any funny business is going on, it can lead to your station being de-listed and cost thousands of dollars in lost ad revenue.

Shortly after I left radio for good, I got a call from Arbitron to participate in a survey. Since I was no longer connected to any station in the market I said "Sure!". Here are some pics of the diary package I received but never filled out. Sometimes it almost makes me sick to my stomach to think that I spent 25 years of my life worried about what gets written in these pages.