Listening habits getting fuzzy

Fewer Americans are cooperating with surveys of their radio listening habits, national radio networks complain, and they have urged rating service Arbitron Inc. to improve its tracking, which is key to the $20-billion radio advertising market.

Len Klatt, chairman of the Network Radio Research Council, which was formed by four radio networks in 2001, said the group has grown more concerned since Arbitron bought the network radio ratings service Radar from privately held SRI. Arbitron is in the process of switching from Radar’s former telephone survey method, which had a 50% response rate, to a diary method, with only a 30% response rate.

Owen Charlebois, president of U.S. Media Services at New York City-based Arbitron, which measures radio audiences in more than 280 markets in the United States, described the company’s effort to address audience response rates as “a serious and ongoing concern.”