Most communication degrees require some kind of research class that students grumble about having to take. Trust me, radio uses research. In fact, there is an old radio saying: "You are only as good as your last book." The saying refers to the ratings book. Research plays a major role in radio both from the programming side and from the sales side of the business. Here is a real life example.

I was involved with putting the last FM station in a large college market. It took several hundred thousand dollars and over two years to secure the license from the FCC. Before the project actually began, it was already a very expensive project. The first question that was on everyone's mind was "What kind of music are you going to play?" Good question. Because of the large investment in securing the license, property for the transmitter site, building a tower, and leasing a building for the station, there was no room for error. There also was another factor. The other radio stations in the market were gearing up to tear our throats out the moment we signed on.

We made several guesses regarding the format, and they were just that, guesses. While we were guessing, our format research folks performed the marketing research to determine what the new format should be. When they were finished, the document was a couple of inches thick. It looked like a large catalog. The results of the research surprised us. While we had been thinking some kind of rock format for the college, the research indicated otherwise.

After the research firm considered the geographic, demographic, economic, psychographic, and lifestyle research, among others, the results clearly indicated "Good Time Rock and Roll Oldies." While we were not thrilled with the format, the research was clear. We developed a plan of attack, and we signed on as an oldies station. We took our first two ratings books and clobbered every station in the market while we established the station as an oldies powerhouse.

Had we gone with our "gut" feelings we would have been wrong.