This article first appeared in the August 30, 1999 issue of Gavin Magazine. For more information on Gavin, visit them online at gavin.com...

Have You Checked Out RadioResearch.com?
By AC/HOT AC Editor Annette M. Lai

If you were a recent Conclave College attendee and registered your email address with them, you should have received a follow-up survey courtesy of www.ResearchRadio.com. The company, which was created three years ago, is the brainchild of radio and research veteran Bill Troy, who has joined forces with radio veteran and now VP, Marketing Jonathan Little. Little recently sat down with GAVIN to give us an overview of this new and immediate way to find out more about your listeners' tastes via the Internet.

He explains, "The three main things we provide programmers is the ability to test up to 30 songs a week in RealAudio, perceptual research, and mass email database marketing where you can do things such as emailing a weekly station newsletter or something simpler like sending out announcements regarding an upcoming contest or a live broadcast."

Of those that participate, Little says, "The people that join your listener advisory board' via your station Web site and participate in the music tests or perceptual research we conduct take this seriously because they're partisans-P1s who love your radio station. Their incentive in participating is that this is their favorite station and they want it to be the best that it can be." Little adds, "Our system is fast, completely effective, and inexpensive. What managers    are telling us is that after they’ve used the system for awhile…one of the neatest aspects is that it creates a bonding with their core audience like you're conducting a programming meeting and you've added a chair for the listener to attend."

Testimonally speaking, two happy consumers of RadioResearch.com are KFMB/FM (Star 100.7)- San Diego  PD  Scott  Sands  and WMGN/FM-Madison PD Pat O'Neill. Sands tells us, "I love the flexibility that we have with this system. At any given moment, if I need fresh research information, I can send out a new test and have a new cycle of research back that afternoon. Best of all, its a great way to get listeners to interact with us through our Web site." On comparing the results with other standard research methods, Sands adds, "For six or seven months we were using this along with regular call-out, and aside from the fact that since this panel has more active listeners, some of the titles burn faster, but in comparing the two methods, they're dead-on accurate."

O'Neill tells us, "I'm very happy with the quick turnaround on the perceptual research questions we ask. I can get immediate feedback from listeners on everything from specialty or weekend programming to the contests we run. Being able to target an email message to them is super valuable. They like the process of being asked to be part of our 'listener advisory board.' It's like being in a club. They like having an instant dialogue with us."

TO LEARN MORE, LOG ONTO http://www.RADIORESEARCH.COM.  OR CALL JONATHAN LITTLE AT (608) 271-8884 OR EMAIL HIM AT JLITTLE@RADIORESEARCH.COM