Welcome to The Ratings Game, where the rules are vague, the dice are loaded, and one respondent can be worth a couple thousand listeners. Well, maybe not quite a couple thousand, but the ratings system is full of illusions that leave even the best programmers bewildered. Broadcasters obsess over the ratings, clinging to every uptick or downturn as if it’s gospel. But if you don’t understand how weighting works, you’re reacting to illusions, not reality. And that will lead to ratings freakouts, and nobody needs that in their workflow.
And if that’s how you’re playing? You’re playing the wrong game, and are going to lose to the stations who are manipulating it to their benefit.
