We have been selected to participate in the Arbitron ratings because we
answered the postcard they mailed out.  Then they mailed a notice that we
would get a booklet (containing a $1 bill) and then they called to see if the
booklet came (it came later that day and had $1 for each of us) and they are
promising us a 'token of appreciation' if we fill the things out for a week
and turn them in.  What are the ratings used for, other than selling to
companies that wish to advertise on the radio?  There are questions about how
much of which type of TV program we watch (none is not a possibility) and how
much we earn and what we spent on food, furniture, etc.  

Jim thinks they will throw out our booklets as being outside the bell curve.
I switch stations every 15 minutes or so when a public announcement comes on,
or Wagner.  How do the rest of you listen to the radio - same station all day,
different specific programs at scheduled times, twiddle the dial...?

21 responses total.

I usually set my alarm to the local AM station (WKZO) to catch any traffic
jams. On my drive to/from school, i'll listen to NPR...at night it's back to
the AM station again to listen to Art Bell.

I'm not too crazy about the programming on the local stations, so I bought
a XM radio for more intesting stuff...I like the "twiddle the dial" on that,
jumping from bluegrass to big band, disco, etc..

Do you think you could fit your day's listening on about 12 lines (writing
down every time you start or stopped listening to a station)?  I wonder if
it counts when I turn down the volume during annoying public service
announcements - is this stopping?

I flip between NPR, Fox News, and Howard Stern.  When things are boring on
those 3 ENTERTAINMENT stations, then i listen to CDs.

I just recorded my listening from 12:10 pm to 1:58 pm.  Three stations.  I
am sticking with the Detroit classical station but I turn it off (or vol down)
when the public service announcements come on.  They are designed for people
who like rock music, I think, and they play the same ones every hour and I
am really starting to hate them. I just forgot to turn the vol up again for
half an hour.  

Arbitron wants to know what sort of cola I drink (if any) and which types of
cable TV I watch (about 20 choices, none of which is 'none').  How much do
we spend on groceries, do we eat at fast food places.

TIme to turn down the volume again.  The school commercials are the worst.

They only gave me 16 lines.  From noon to 2 I filled up 6 of them by turning
the radio off during commercials then on again.

I've never heard of Arbitron.  Is it a real research firm or are they going
to sell your info to marketers?

I ran across Arbitron when reading about the new Detroit classical station.
They had a rating of 0.00 before switching formats.  I was hoping to get them
a better rating but they keep playing horrible public service announcements
so I keep turning them off.  They are welcome to sell marketers the info that
I listen to classical music and don't watch TV - maybe someone will start up
a commercial classical station again.  Except nobody would want my business
because of how I answered the other questions about what I buy, eat, and
drink.

Is that new clasical station the one at 90.9?  If so, I used to listen
to them before they changed format to classical.

Arbitron is the industry standard for rating broadcasters in the US.

As for my listening habits, I listen to one radio show in the workday
mornings.  Then I'll typically pick a station to leave it on for the
rest of the workday.  When I'm on the road, I'm all over the dial.

WRCJ 90.9 - classical 5 am to 7 pm.  Jazz 7 pm to 5 am.  Jazz people must be
up all night.  At 7 pm the other 2 classical stations play music again instead
of news.  WRCJ was very kind to classical listeners to time it this way.
I think WKAR may still play classical midnight to 5 am.  U of M used to do
so (canned program).

I thought they changed their callsign from WRCJ when they changed
owners and format.  I'll miss that station, they used to be a really
good station to listen to at work.

They are apparently still owned by the Detroit Public Schools, but managed
by Detroit Public TV, and have the same callsign as a few years ago.  They
had something different before that, when they changed their format.  They
used to play classical music 2 hours every evening (7-9?).

After turning the alarm off in the morning, I put 107.1 on to listen to 
Martin's show and do my stretches. Get up, head to the kitchen and turn 
on the radio there for more of the same. Sometimes I'll tune to 950 am 
for a check of the weather (on the 8's) and back to 107. In the car on 
the way to work, I'll usually just push the 'scan' button and listen to 
snippets of everything.

I went to the library book sale and got two bags of 33's and am listening to
those instead of the radio.  Less talk.

When I first came to the U.S, I couldn't believe how bad
broadcast radio was here. It seemed like every station owned
five records (at least three of which were common to all of
them) and played them over and over and over again.  Just
lately a couple of stations in the Chicago area have started
playing a wider range of music. I have to hit the NPR button
for actual radio programmes.  One of the reasons I'm really
looking forward to DSL is that hopefully I'll be able to
stream BBC radio programs over the Internet.  What I listen
to depends a mostly on my mood at the time.

  I listen to WJR from 4:30am to 12:00 noon. Then I switch to WGTE for 
Day To Day, then stay tuned to WGTE til 3, on Mondays. Tuesday to Friday
I listen to WUOM for the talk, and I usually learn a lot.
  Saturdays, I listen to WJR from 6am to 9am, then I go over to WGTE for the
last of the morning program, then at 10, I listen to Click and Clack, at 11,
I listen to Michael Feldman's "What do you know?", then at 12 I flip over to
WUOM for "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" which is hilarious. If I get bored, I
usually just listen to my Ipod.

I listen Voice of Russia, Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran, Radio Sweden,
Radio France International, aeronautical and maritime stations.

What languages do they all broadcast in?

Slightly (ok very) OT, but Iran is the Islamic country with the highest number
of Jews.

Considering the Iranians want to destroy Israel, that's very odd.

Didn't the rest of the Islamic countries force the Jews to leave those
countries? If I remember right, Iran was the only one that didn't.

Yes, and considering its stance, that's very odd.

2 Sindy: russian, english, german, spanish and more.

re #19
It isn't that odd.  The Jews in Iran are not considered "Zionists" by the
Iranian government.  Though, there have been outbursts of violence such as
the mass Exodus in 1979 during the Islam Revolution.

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