Call Out


	*Call Out Research*
	Music testing is what is called "quantitative research." This is because the results are "quantities" since what we obtain from the process is the score for each song ranked against each other song on a variety of criteria like age and sex and radio usage.

	Music tests are expensive and generally can be done for all but the biggest stations once or maybe twice a year. If a station plays current music that is newer than the most recent test, it is likely that it will do callout research.

	Here are some views of a typical call center. Using automated dialing systems or stratified lists of telephone numbers, interviewers contact users of specific radio stations or partisans of a particular music style to get their opinions.

	Like a music test, snippets of songs are played, and the person being interviewed scores the song, either verbally or, in some cases, via the buttons on their telephone.

	A typical "cycle" of call out current music research is limited to a few dozen songs, and should be completed within a week to ten days, due to the time value. Anywhere from 50 to 100 completed interviews may be done, and the results tracked against prior cycles to find if a song is getting "bigger" or fading out. A song that never takes off is called a "stiff" and "stiffiness" is one of the things research helps a station avoid: songs that cause tune out.

	Generally, call out responses are directly entered into a computer and tabulations and lists can be sent to a station almost instantly. With T1 lines and web-based calling systems, a call center can be located anywhere, and the staff may be researching a staiton in New England one day and one in Arizona the next.