But what if smooth jazz wasn’t killed by neglect, but by bad data? Radio stations run on ratings, and Nielsen is by far the dominant ratings provider, as it is in television. It has a near-monopoly on the biggest markets in the U.S. But many in the industry are starting to wonder if Nielsen has been getting the ratings wrong.
What if people kept listening, but weren’t all being counted anymore? What if a new Nielsen counting method wasn’t working as it was intended to? That failing would hurt many stations in the ratings, but some more than others, and possibly none more than smooth jazz.
I know Steve Dahl also questioned the validity of the new ratings technique when it came out. If it's true, imagine how many lives this has affected.
