"Eric F. Richards" wrote in message
...

I wouldn't be surprised if the 100 here and the 50 there over ALL of
the skywave coverage area added up to between 5 and 10% of your
listener area. Would *you* want to tell the PD that the latest
Arbitrons showed a 5% drop in listenership in the evening?

Arbitron does not measure the skywave coverage area of the few AMs that get
any extended skywave coverage. It measures market by market the Metropolitan
Statistical Area or a similar definition adapted to the radio market. Any
station from outside the market area that gets listening could show up in a
distant market's Arbitron... but they don't. Out of home market Am listening
in the US is almost always in a contiguous market... like Riverside
listening to LA staitons or Flint listening to Detroit stations.

Radio listening at night is very low. Less than a third of the daytime
listening levels, and more like a quarter for AM. So 5% of nothing is
nothing. Advertisers seldom ask for spots after 7 PM, so most of what you
hear is bonus or freebe spots.

But that is what you are doing -- assuming that the 5% is
statistically insignificant because you are looking at it in terms of
listener density per geographical unit.

We are looking for listening in our home market. I am with a station that is
#1 in LA, and is top 5 in Riverside. Riverside is a separate market, and we
do not make a cent off it. So we do not care, do not promote in Riverside,
do remotes in Riverside or pay attention to Riverside, even though we are a
top 5 station out there. And this is with an FM... AMs care even less.

...and its not like those listeners are costing you extra, in terms of
station expenses -- you aren't increasing power for the benefit of
those 5% -- you would, however, be selling to them an ad that is not
targeted to a geographic area.

Nobody cares. If an advertiser wants listeners in Shreeveport, there are 25
stations to pick from that actually have ratings there. Why pay Chicago
rates to reach Shreeveport when the city has its own successful media?

If that model was used on network television, there'd be no network TV
ads, but there are. And somehow, network TV muddles on.

It is the same as cable. They are sold natinally based on reach and cost per
national point. Radio is sold by the market, not by the country.

People are willing to do business cross country. And advertisers buy
national radio. But radio is SOLD according to local numbers.

And that is where the model is flawed.

There is no model as AM stations do not get any significant listening
outside their gvroundwave coverage area, and night radio is low listening
level at best and not bought by most advertisers. Mainly, distant stations
do not have listeners outside thier groundwave areas in significant
quantities for an advertiser to justify paying to reach them.

How many Hallicrafters radios would have been sold if they only
advertised in Chicago newspapers?

Hallicrafters went broke. this is because long distance reception is not of
interest any more, especially on AM medium wave.