The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[french frank]

Therefore the stats are slightly understated for R3....

We'll add one on to all their figures for the past 50 years then. Or two, because they haven't asked me either.

[Sir Velo]

In 50+ years of listening to R3 - and hardly ever anything else until quite recently - I have never been sampled for my listening habits. Therefore the stats are slightly understated for R3....

Except that RAJAR's profiling is so accurate that you will automatically have been included in their extrapolation.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

They might as well rely on an opinion poll in place of a general election.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Nor have they ever asked me, have any MBs ever been asked?

[french frank]

Nor have they ever asked me, have any MBs ever been asked?

I think Bryn was on a panel some years back when they had a slightly different system. But do the calculation: there are about 2,200 people each week and a 15+ population of just over 53m. However, only one person per household is chosen and there are only about 23m households - so it's rather more likely that you or someone of your household would be chosen in any year. Still a long shot that it's anyone here.

[Bax-of-Delights]

I think Bryn was on a panel some years back when they had a slightly different system. But do the calculation: there are about 2,200 people each week and a 15+ population of just over 53m. However, only one person per household is chosen and there are only about 23m households - so it's rather more likely that you or someone of your household would be chosen in any year. Still a long shot that it's anyone here.

Please miss! Please miss! (shoots hand up,sitting at my desk, tucked away at the back of the class) - I was "sampled" some years ago. An elderly gentleman came to my door and asked if I would take part in a Rajar survey on radio listening habits. He presented me with a fairly substantial booklet/folder which I had to fill out on a daily basis. The slots were divided, if I recall, into 15 minute intervals so one had to tick the relevant boxes for each channel that one listened to during that period.
This, of course, was before the decline in quality of R3's offerings and I ticked away merrily for a few days but it all got rather tedious and I ended up, I have to confess, just repeating each day's ticks for the whole month irrespective of whether I had actually listened or not.
The elderly gentleman duly returned after a month and presented me with a £5 note for my troubles and went off clutching the survey.

[french frank]

Please miss! Please miss! (shoots hand up,sitting at my desk, tucked away at the back of the class) - I was "sampled" some years ago.

Do you remember how long ago, B-o-D? They changed the methodology a bit at the beginning of 1999, and - for a reason I've tried to investigate, but no one seems to respond - Radio 3's reach declined with the new methodology - almost uniquely among the major national stations. Most actually went up - some quite substantially.

My feeling was that the BBC panicked when they discovered that Radio 3 had almost half a million listeners fewer than supposed. Hence a big push to increase the size of the audience (my hypothesis this). Since (quite obviously) Radio 3 didn't have a real drop in listeners because Rajar changed its methodology, my theory was that possibly the old system was better at identifying Radio 3 listeners than the new one, this possibly explained by the fact that Radio 3 has a markedly different listener profile... ¿Quién sabe?

[Old Grumpy]

Well, they got at least one new listener, who was introduced this morning - Penguin Cafe man. Another refugee (as I was) from the Today programme apparently.

OG

[Richard Tarleton]

For about 3 years we had one of those boxes that sits on your satellite box and monitors what you're watching (i.e. which channel you're tuned in to) - you had to record who was in the room at the time. Although it "knew" if we were listening to a radio channel through the satellite box, which is how we listen to BBC radio, apparently this data was not used/passed on to broadcasters, they were only interested in TV channels. There were some perks for having this - retail vouchers of some sort -but we got fed up with it as the technician kept having to call and re-set it, and told them to take it away.

[Bax-of-Delights]

Do you remember how long ago, B-o-D? They changed the methodology a bit at the beginning of 1999, and - for a reason I've tried to investigate, but no one seems to respond - Radio 3's reach declined with the new methodology - almost uniquely among the major national stations. Most actually went up - some quite substantially.

My feeling was that the BBC panicked when they discovered that Radio 3 had almost half a million listeners fewer than supposed. Hence a big push to increase the size of the audience (my hypothesis this). Since (quite obviously) Radio 3 didn't have a real drop in listeners because Rajar changed its methodology, my theory was that possibly the old system was better at identifying Radio 3 listeners than the new one, this possibly explained by the fact that Radio 3 has a markedly different listener profile... ¿Quién sabe?

Can't remember exactly but it was c2000-2002.
I do remember it being a frightful bore and, at the time I handed it back, I felt that RAJAR would be extrapolating completely the wrong results from my inadequate efforts of monitoring my radio/television use.

[french frank]

I felt that RAJAR would be extrapolating completely the wrong results from my inadequate efforts of monitoring my radio/television use.

Sort of yes but slightly no because when you say:

I ended up, I have to confess, just repeating each day's ticks for the whole month irrespective of whether I had actually listened or not.

they want to get a feel for people's listening habits. So they say you shouldn't listen to a programme during your week on the panel if you don't usually listen to it. So, contrariwise, ticking something which you usually listen to, even if you didn't, might not be so wicked, especially now when you only do it for a week (did you have to do it for a month?). It's generally recognised as being a rather blunt instrument: for instance, young people may be underrepresented because they aren't so reliable at filling in their diaries as the oldies

The broadcasters probably know how much uncertainty there is in the various figures they extract from the tables.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Sort of yes but slightly no because when you say:

they want to get a feel for people's listening habits. So they say you shouldn't listen to a programme during your week on the panel if you don't usually listen to it. So, contrariwise, ticking something which you usually listen to, even if you didn't, might not be so wicked, especially now when you only do it for a week (did you have to do it for a month?). It's generally recognised as being a rather blunt instrument: for instance, young people may be underrepresented because they aren't so reliable at filling in their diaries as the oldies

The broadcasters probably know how much uncertainty there is in the various figures they extract from the tables.

what i did but if only i could remember when ... sometime in the last fifteen years or so ... my diary showed a stead full day of R3 but less in the evenings ... now reversed, can't stomach the mornings at all...

[Stan Drews]

Despite everything I hate about this "show" and earlier comments above re folk music, I'd like to express a wee "thank you" for remembering Jean Redpath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Redpath) this morning.

[Ockeghem's Razor]

Despite everything I hate about this "show" and earlier comments above re folk music, I'd like to express a wee "thank you" for remembering Jean Redpath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Redpath) this morning.

I missed this and am deeply shocked and saddened. I love her singing, especially her work on the songs of Burns. A great loss.

[french frank]

Despite everything I hate about this "show" and earlier comments above re folk music, I'd like to express a wee "thank you" for remembering Jean Redpath (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Redpath) this morning.

That did come during my 'hour's stint' yesterday and - not knowing anything of her but her name - the 'folk song' did fill me with gloom. However, not that raucous, folky type of 'country singing' but a clear, soaring voice with perfect intonation which captured the simple emotion of the poem beautifully. If only that was what is usually meant by 'folk' ....