Abstract:

U.S. radio stations compete among themselves in a pattern that differs somewhat from today’s population-proportionate survey samples. Some demographic groups are served by more stations than others, in ways that can’t be explained by population size alone. We can’t be sure whether the tendency of demographic groups to listen differently is the primary factor, or whether the patterns result from broadcasters choosing to pursue some demographics more vigorously than others. Because the demographic distribution of competition is a bit different than the demographic distribution of samples, the article closes with discussion of some challenges that might be involved with considering alternative sampling designs.