A look at the Infinite Dial 2008…

Monday, April, 14, 2008 by Mel Phillips.

Quite the fancy name for that Arbitron/Edison Media Research   study recently released but that was just part of it, the full title was “Infinite Dial 2008: Radio’s Digital Platforms”.  The results were interesting but the best part of the study, coming from a guy who got his research feet wet trying to resurrect Hooper Ratings  in the 70s, was its methodology.  It was what the folks at Hooper called the “coincidental”, meaning a random study conducted by phone.  Webster defines ‘coincidental’ as:  “occurring or existing at the same time” which would define the Arbitron Portable People Meter (PPM) methodology a ‘coincidental‘ minus the phone call.  In my eyes it’s the best methodology for measuring what a person is listening to at that moment…

What the study showed was an increase of online radio listening from 11% to 13% in the past year but it also showed that more than 20% (21%) of consumers reached said that all kinds of radio have a big impact on their lives.  It’s second only in importance to mobile phones (33%).  Other results showed that almost 40% (37%) own an iPod, MP3 or other brand of portable audio player and that the Internet is gaining on radio as the medium to learn about new music with 49% of those reached and of that percentage, 25% mentioned the Internet as the source of that new music…

This was a sizeable study with a sample size of 1,857 with respondents age 12 and older chosen at random from a national sample of Arbitron’s Fall 2007 survey diary-keepers.  This is what you would consider an ‘active‘ audience.  And best part of all, to me at least, was that it was a ‘coincidental‘…

10 Timeline Memories: 

1.  1865]  He should have taken a presidential pass:  President Abraham Lincoln is shot and mortally wounded by actor John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C.  He will die from his wounds the following day.  The late comedian Andy Kaufman made this incredible video vignette  of the assassination…
2. 1894]  Pass the popcorn:  The first public showing of Edison’s kinetoscope a.k.a. “moving pictures” is held…
3. 1902]  The money man:   James Cash Penney opens his first retail store, The Golden Rule Store in Kemmerer (WY).  The name will later be changed to ‘J.C. Penney’…
4. 1910]  Play Ball:  President William Howard Taft throws out the first ball for the Washington Senators-Philadelphia A’s game in Washington and a tradition is born…1925]  WGN starts another tradition, baseball games on radio.  “The Cubs win, the Cubs win, the Cubs win“, 8-2 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.  83 years later the Cubs are still on WGN…1955]  Elston Howard becomes the Yankees first black player…1969]  The first major league game is played in Canada (Montreal)…
5. 1912]  Down with the ship:  The Titanic, on its maiden voyage, hits an iceberg and begins to sink.  It will totally capsize at 2:27 a.m. on April 15th.  More than 700 survive but 1,517 lose their lives…
6. 1939]  Sour grapes:  John Steinbeck publishes “The Grapes of Wrath“…
7. 1956]  Get out your old splicing bars:  Ampex Corporation demonstrates the first commercial tape recorder for sound and picture…
8. 2002]  Hold that Tiger:  Tiger Woods becomes only the third golfer in history to win back-to-back Master’s titles…
9. 2003]  A Tikrit to ride:  Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit falls to U.S. led forces with unexpectedly light resistance…
10. 2007]  ‘Happy Trails’:  Hawaiian singer Don Ho passes away from heart failure at 76…

Music Memories:

• 1955]  Released on this date:  “Ain’t That A Shame” - Fats Domino…
• 1959]  Number One on this date:  “Come Softly To Me” - Fleetwoods…1974]  “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)” - MFSB.  This was used as the theme song for “Soul Train” with background vocal candy by The Three Degrees…
• 1965]  Sweets for my sweets:  On Shindig! this date:  Millie Small singing “My Boy Lollipop“.  Sing-a-long with Millie…

Commentary:

The amount of paperwork issued by the FCC in the last few days has been staggering.  Does the FCC get paid by the word or are they getting ready to adjourn for the summer ?   Check it out at http://www.fcc.gov/ …

“Happy Birthday…happy birthday”:

Sarah Michelle Gellar (31), Adrien Brody (35), Anthony Michael Hall (40), Brad Garrett (48), Ritchie (Deep Purple) Blackmore (63), Pete Rose (67), Julie Christie (67), Frank Serpico (72), Loretta Lynn (73) and Marvin Miller (91)…

Timeline Countdown:  5 days until Passover, 19 days until the Kentucky Derby and 26 days until Mother’s Day…

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