• by Frank Saxe , January 9, 2003

In a year of baby steps, network radio grew at twice the rate of network TV or newspapers in 2002.

According to Competitive Media Reporting, network radio ad spending increased an estimated 15% in the first nine months of 2002. The shift of national dollars to network radio has helped further buyers’ oft-heard call for radio program suppliers to become RADAR-rated. It has also been given a push to Arbitron’s effort to expand the ratings service to smaller syndication companies.

Arbitron bought the RADAR service in July 2001 from Statistical Research Inc., and began tapping the data it was already collecting from its market-by-market ratings service. In March, it will complete a five-step initiative converting RADAR to a diary-based service with a sample size that has grown fourfold. “We were able to quadruple the sample in one year without a rate increase, which never could have been done [by SRI],” says Arbitron VP of national radio services Bruce Supovitz, explaining the larger sample size should also decrease the “wobble” that some networks may have experienced before.

By tapping its existing infrastructure, Arbitron was also able to rework its cost structure, allowing smaller syndicators to finally afford to become RADAR-rated. “When we converted RADAR to diary measurement, we said that the larger sample would make the service more accessible so that more companies could have their networks measured in RADAR,” says Arbitron EVP David Lapovsky.

In November, Dial Communications – Global Media became the first to join RADAR since Arbitron began its down-market push. With the release of the RADAR 76 report in March, the Dial-Global Contemporary Network, targeting adults 18 to 49, will debut. After reviewing its first network’s performance, Dial-Global may also add another RADAR network targeting older demos. “We wanted to make the next logical step to grow our business,” says David Landau, co-president and CEO of Dial-Global. Arbitron was able to put together a cost scheme that allowed a second-tier network such as his to join RADAR, says Landau. “It just broke down the barriers.”

Even so, it remains an expensive proposition for smaller radio syndication companies. Dial-Global declined to disclose how much it is annual subscription fees are, but those familiar with the network business estimate it will cost the company $500,000 a year, although that is still less than the $750,000 that the old telephone survey methodology allowed. “This next grouping are interested to be in RADAR because they will potentially get a bigger piece of the advertising budgets, they will potentially get more for their spots, and the buyers want to entertain they’re proposals more because they want that accountability,” says Supovitz.

Jones Radio Networks CEO Ron Hartenbaum says over the past several months, their research department has been closely scrutinizing whether to put any of Jones’ programs into RADAR. He says “it’s very possible” that their music-based formats would become RADAR-rated, although he doubts specific personality based programs, such as the song-and-chat diva Delilah, would follow. That’s because previous attempts to build networks around specific talents have not worked. In the 1980’s, ABC Radio Networks saw its measured audience for Casey Kasem’s countdown show fall when it converted to RADAR, while Premiere Radio Networks experienced a similar fate with Dr. Laura Schlessinger more recently.

A leading driver for some syndicators is estimates that RADAR-rated networks get anywhere from 10% to 25% more for their spots. Even so, one network president predicts that premium may be diluted if more properties are in RADAR, since there will be less of a distinction. OMD USA managing partner Natalie Swed Stone says RADAR or not, it is still the value of the property that determines value, not its ratings methodology. “There is this thought that the minute something goes into RADAR, it is immediately attractive. It isn’t.” She points out some of the most sought-after radio programs, such as Rush Limbaugh and Tom Joyner, are not measured by RADAR.