Abstract:

To propose a text on radio research during this ESOMAR Symposium on Electronic and Broadcast Audience Research is perhaps a way to try to show off but if it is it is also more than that. Radio as a medium is gaining back the importance it lost to television already 20-30 years ago. It is worthwhile besides that to trace the story of radio research done within BRTN. In trying to establish the extent of the audience the diary has been used in radio as well as in television research. The automatisation of televison research is nowadays taking over the function of other research instruments. Diary research, most of the time radio research, stays behind in speed and sophistication of reporting. Nevertheless the diary remains a very useful and effective research method that has been worked out and refined during 20 years of experience by BRTN- researchers. In the beginning the researchers had to cope only with the own BRTN radio channels. Since a lot of commercial regional and local channels came to existence the challenge on the performance of the system became much greater and it gained more importance. It will be possible to integrate the measurement of commercial channels by changing from a so-called closed diary-system to an open diary-system.