Predicting The Past
I think it was the Romans who believed that the Gods would hide their intentions within the entrails of birds. Soothsayers were employed to cut open hapless doves and interpret the future by fingering through their stomachs. That's enough to put you off chicken dinners for life.
We in radio, on the other hand, find ourselves, every three months, trying to predict what's happened in the past. Four times a year we get a glimpse of the official RAJAR audience figures. The figures released tonight will be published tomorrow morning.
They tell us what listeners were doing three months ago. Tonight's figures, for example, will cover the three month period leading up to the middle of December.
So, around the U.K., radio station managers will be ploughing through charts and trying to remember which programmes are to be praised or blamed for the rise or fall in audiences.
All will be revealed tomorrow!
