Re: listening trends....

[Chuckigo@att.net]

the noted attorney A.Joseph asked:
<<What's AQH listening?

and

    What is a stopset?>>

AQH listening is the abbreviation for Average Quarter 
Hour Listening, or the number of available persons 
listening to one station during a fifteen-minute period.

A stopset is when the programming stops.  the length of 
a stopset can vary.  

Stopsets play a very important part in AQH Listening, as 
the two go hand-in-hand.

A station focused on AQH Maintenance will "back-load" 
their programming log so that the first batch of 
commercials will play at approximately :51.  additional 
commercials would play at :21.
the importance of "back-loading" is that you can 
theoretically provide :57 minutes of programming, 
uninterrupted, assuming that a station has adopted the 
current "norm" of six minutes per break.

most ratings companies give stations credit for 
listenership in a quarter-hour if the listener notes a 
time of at least :06, :21, :36, or :51 past the hour.  
six minutes into the quarter, if they're listening, 
they're yours.  

the norm for commercial loads up until the early 90's 
was 18 units per hour.  on a full-service Adult Contemp 
station, such as WBZ, WGAN, WHDH or even WIDE in 
Biddeford, the commercials would total 18, and be 
inserted in the following manner:
2 in each newscast, top and bottom
1 prior to each newscast (:29 & :59)
2 breaks of 3 each in the remaining "half hours"

often times, programming and sales would come to near 
blows over the terminology of "unit".  sales would 
insist that "unit" meant minute.  programming would try 
to remind sales that, to a listener, a :10 second 
commercial is the same as a :60.  when this happened, it 
most often suggested to have the popcorn ready and to 
get there early for a good seat.

- -Chuck (noting that it's 9:06) Igo