Abstract:

The idea of creating an electronic device for measuring the audience of radio dates back at Infratest Burke into the late 1970’s, but was turned down because of technical problems. With the enormous technological progress in the computer industry and the miniaturizing of all components needed, Infratest Burke revived its ideas and started to develop an electronic measurement system in 1995 in collaboration with Kayser Threde, a German systems engineering company. Part I of this paper provides a short overview of the development of the Radio Watch, the reasoning for choosing a purely passive approach and the logic of the measurement process. Part II reports on the current stages of the technical development and the first results of a field test aimed at detecting the readiness of the population to participate in this kind of research and to wear a measurement device at all times during waking hours.