Radio Sells The Average Quarter Hour
The advertiser wants to know how many people will hear his commercial each time it plays. That number is provided in the quarter-hour listenership estimates in our ratings reports. So, “quarter-hour maintenance” is a thing. The Program director’s first and foremost task is to keep listeners listening longer. Consistency is a major component in that effort. Listeners choose a favorite radio station based on what it does for them personally. It provides the music mix they enjoy and they want it just that way every time they tune in. If the listener is really into your station because of the many classic Oldies you play in the mix each hour, but they begin to encounter many hours with few or no Classics at all, you are liable to lose the listener.
The path to growing listenership begins by focusing on what you give them in a quarter hour. And you give it to them in every quarter hour.
SW
Written by
Steve Warren
Steve Warren has programmed radio since 1964. He built MdB, the first music scheduler for the Mac, in 1987 and Music 1 for Windows in 1994, and is a founding partner of MusicOne.
