your car radio could be helping conservative radio.

[dysfunctional press]

although i rarely listen to it, i do have a radio preset on my car tuned to 890-am wls- the chicago home to rush limpballs and now wo-mancow...or i should say that i USED to have a radio preset to that station.
i don't know how prevalent the practice is, but when i took the car into the dealership for servicing, i saw a sign reminding the mechanics to check the radio presets on cars that were in for servicing. when i asked the woman behind the counter about it, she responded that the information is collected by a rating service, and it goes into the ratings that radio stations receive.

[LeftyMom]

1. I'd like to see some evidence of that.

As far as I know Arbitron uses a logbook sent to customers.

Then again, I don't even have any radio presets set up, I don't listen to the radio, my mechanic doesn't snoop on me, and if I caught a stranger futzing about with my very nice car stereo I'd likely break their fingers. So YMMV.

[dysfunctional press]

8. ymmv?

:shrug:

as i said- i don't know how prevalent it is- but they were doing it at the autobahn vw in evanston.

also- neilsen is based in northbrook- it might have been some type of test/pilot program they were trying...?? i really have no idea, i only know what my experience was.

[Duckhunter935]

2. I call BS

If they disconnect the battery as you need to for almost anything anymore due to airbags, the preset info gets lost. resetting the radio presets would be a good business practice.

[DS1]

3. +1

[ProdigalJunkMail]

5. add one more

[dysfunctional press]

10. i'd imagine that it's something they would do before disconnecting the battery, perhaps?

just a guess, mind you.

as stated- i don't know how prevalent the practice is/was- i can only speak from my experience.

another possiblity- the chick behind the counter was just screwing with me, and the sign was there to remind the mechanics to check the presets so that they could be restored after the battery is disconnected?

[canetoad]

19. Maybe the counter woman

really believed that because the mechanics (**nudge, nudge, wink wink) had told her so.

[Gabi Hayes]

22. my radio has about fifty presets, and has never come back with any changes

lots of cars have that many

do you seriously believe they're going to spend the amount of time necessary to record, then re-install those presets? my satellite section has eighteen, and they'd have to take every car OUTSIDE to do those

sounds like a job for snopes to me

[bridgit]

23. Oh I hear you, but I would think 'good business practice' would lean away from Byzantine

intrigues just to have your fluids checked at a routine service visit so why do you suppose the expanding canard? Why the sign reminding mechanics to check presets? Should there have been a sign reminding them to reset the presets to what they were? For that matter; why no sign reminding them to check the cig lighter, or the map light, or horn? And why the further Kafka-esque interlude with the woman behind the counter?

If I ran a fleet service facility I'd have no sign at all. I'd be all, "Here's your car." smile and, "You want me to leave these charges on your card?" Or maybe one sign, I'll put one sign out front...

*You are a valued customer, but even at that rate you're gonna lose your presets dude so deal with it. Thank you*

[ChazII]

4. Sports stuff on AM

Golden oldies on FM.

[rurallib]

6. you know there is a great lefty station in Chicago WCPT 820 AM

I can get it in Iowa.

[dysfunctional press]

7. actually it's available on 4 stations-

820 am. 92.5fm, 92.7fm, and 99.9fm...and they're all on presets.

[AlCzervik]

9. That's not how ratings are measured, they use arbitron which requires the listener

to keep a book to write sown what they listen to.

[dysfunctional press]

11. i would think that they would try to collect data in as many ways as they could...

that being said- it could have also been part of test/new program that may or may not have panned out. :shrug:

[AlCzervik]

12. The people that are selected keep track of what they listen to for a period of time

like week and not a day, same thing with Neilsen, users have the box for a given time period in their home.

[dysfunctional press]

14. we did the arbitron thing for awhile when we were kids.

it's also possible, especially with all the new technology available- they may be trying out new ways of collecting data, to see what works.

[KharmaTrain]

21. They're Very Careful...

For decades Arbitron used strictly a diary recall method...the listen would fill out which stations they listened to in 15 minute increments. Last year they introduced a radio version of the "people meter"...a specially designed system that can "hear" what you're listening to and record it...real time information vs. having the person remember.

They're very careful on how they gather the information as they not only need station information but who is listening and what they're listening to. You can't get that looking at the presets.

[Quantess]

13. "wo-mancow"?

What's that?

[dysfunctional press]

15. a dumb play on the name of a right-wing dj...?

kinda like the limpballs thing..? :shrug:

he's a once would-be loudmouth idiot radio 'shock jock' who decided to ride the political wave.

http://www.mancow.com/

[Quantess]

16. If his name is already Mancow, that's bad enough.

His opening line should be "Go ahead, milk me! C'mon, I've got an udder!"

On webpage, stupid "Separated at birth": John Denver and Hillary Clinton

:eyes:

[KharmaTrain]

17. An Old Trick...

First of all, this is usually done by stations or research companies, NOT by Arbitron. There are some companies that specialize in this that are hired by a station...it's supposed to be for internal information purposes only. In one station's case they were a small operation near a major market and wanted to see if there were any listeners...the owner eventually sold the station cause the research looked so bad.

The mechanics would go nuts with my car radio. I'm in Chicago and long ago jettisoned WLS from my pre-sets...they'll just get WCPT and a bunch of public radio stations. That'll do them little good. WCPT could desperately use the advertising.

Cheers...

[dysfunctional press]

18. at least i wasn't imagining it...

and feel somewhat vindicated.

thanks for that.

[bridgit]

20. It's another form of data mining, my husband resets the XM on rentals we take back in...

to Laugh USA :) Stations already have means to determine signal reception and 'ratings'; a case could be made that more than ratings are being logged nudge-nudge, wink-wink, know whada'mean http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/226471/226471.htm For some people your car radio is a form of opposition research :(

[Angleae]

24. I don't even know how to set the presets, or even if it has presets.

It's exclusivly for MP3s.