Measure THIS!

I work in the Canadian radio broadcasting industry. Do you know how the Canadian broadcast industry measures audience numbers? An organization called BBM (Bureau of Broadcast Measurement) sends out diaries at random to households throughout the measurement area. These resemble datebooks, except that they break the day down into 15 minute segments. Ever heard the term "average quarter hour"? That's what they're talking about. Recipients are then asked to fill out these diaries according to their radio listening habits. For example if I listened to "Carl and Googie In the Morning" I would indicate that by penciling the stations call letters into the appropriate time slots. Btw recipients receive a 2 dollar coin as an incentive to fill out these balllots.

I've been to the BBM offices and looked through hundreds of diaries. It's shocking. Despite BBM's "random sampling" I was seeing 2, 3 even 4 diaries in a row that had been filled out by the same person. According to BBM's system, in a city like Toronto 1 diary equals approximately 1000 people. Imagine how one person can misrepresent a radio stations actual listening audience and you'll appreciate that this is a flawed system. Radio lives and dies by these numbers. In Toronto, one share point equals approx 2 million dollars in potential revenue. People's livelihoods literally depend on these numbers. How then does Canadian Idol have a more accurate system of measurement than the Canadian broadcast industry?