"Brenda Ann" wrote in message
...

"David Eduardo" wrote in message
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And analysis of millions of listener weeks of recorded listening over
nearly a decade shows that there is very little listening outside the 64
dbu of FMs at work or at home, and much of that is because the radios of
the last few decades can't pick up much of anything less than that with
acceptable quality. When I see nearly no exceptions that would validate
your contention, I must conclude that you are imagining things.

How many of those studies were done outside huge metros?

Almost every county in the US is part of some metro. The non-measured
counties are only a couple of percrent of the total US population... and
they are not measured because the ability to get a sample is very hard.

For example, in Washington only Asotin county is not measured, and in Oregon
only Curry and Lake are not in. In some states like Ohio, every county is
measured. In Michigan, only a couple of very sparsely populated UP counties
are not in the sample of some metro, plus tiny Alcona County in NE Michigan.

The studies essentially looked at all diary returns. FM showed 95% of
listening in the 64 dbu for attributable in home and at work listening, no
matter what market... and it comes down to the ability of radios to pick up
acceptably anything less, not desire to listen.

I've lived in towns with their own FM's where the 64 dBu contour didn't
cover the transmitter site parking lot. One example was KLER-FM in
Orofino, ID. Their tower was BELOW average terrain, and they were running
100 watts, and couldn't cover a significant portion of the very small town
they are located in. Since then, they have raised their tower height and
power, but given the terrain, probably don't have a much better coverage.
It may be an exaggeration, but not much of one, to say that some
educational stations wouldn't have a 64 dBu signal if you connected the
meter directly to the transmitter..

And it would not be an exaggeration to say nobody listens, but finding out
if it is because the station has lousy programming or no coverage is a
different and subjective issue.

The 64 of KLER covers less than 9000 people, but it does cover the market...
such as it is.

I've seen plenty of stations with negative HAATs that did marvelously, but
it was due to the height averaging working in their favor.