The device, the size of a shoe box, is tough to spot unless you make a habit of looking skyward to inspect utility poles while driving. ¶ But in 14 locations around the Washington area, the devices are there, sensing which radio stations drivers are listening to by picking up faint electronic signals emitted from car antennas as they drive by. ¶ The technology, owned by MobilTrak Inc. of Phoenix, was introduced in this region in May. By year-end, MobilTrak hopes to mount nine more units to monitor the listening habits of more than 1 million drivers and present the results to advertisers eager to better reach the audience in the country's eighth-largest radio market. ¶ The monitoring aims to help retailers choose where to advertise by giving them a snapshot of which stations consumers tune into as they drive by their businesses. The most enthusiastic MobilTrak adopters: auto dealers, who generally believe that 80 percent of their business is with people who live or work within 10 miles of a given dealership. ... washingtonpost.com link
Back in the days when AM was king, was a mom and pop (literally) ratings company here in the Northwest that used a similar technique to devise ratings estimates in small markets. Pete Barr, an employee of our radio station in the 40s, invented a device that would listen for signals emitted by receiver oscillators; as I recall, naming it the Barr-o-meter. He (who was blind) and his wife would park their vehicle in neighborhoods, scan and note what stations were being used. I never bought the service, but he was still offering it into the early 80s. --Dennis
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