About Audiscan

Audiscan is the electronic radio audience measurement company that produces complete studies of the radio listening habits of motorists in a specified market. The results are obtained by a scientific electronic process of receiving and defining the radiated signal from the radio of individual motor vehicles, thereby telling what radio station the driver and passengers were listening to.

Unlike many other audience survey techniques that rely on listener recall, the Audiscan Report results are not estimates. Each tabulation is from a factual, scientific, electronic reading taken at the actual location and during the actual time period as described in each category in the report.

Designed for Greater Radio Advertising Results

Although the Audiscan system uses the most advanced 21st century technology, Audiscan has been electronically scanning motor vehicles and producing the Audiscan Report that has helped radio advertisers get tremendous advertising results for over 20 years.

Audiscan was founded in 1980 and began operations in Shreveport, Louisiana. Hal Evans, one of the original founders, has an extensive background in radio advertising sales with experience as an advertising salesman, sales manager, general manager, and owner of radio stations. Others who also helped form the company realized the awesome radio sales potential of Audiscan and totally concentrated on "a better way" of getting radio ad results when they designed the format for the survey and the actual report.

Audiscan is the system that has been depicted in many national publications such as "Venture", "Earshot", and "Radio Only" and practically every newspaper in the United States and abroad. Audiscan has also been featured in the "Forbes" Magazine issue of "The Best Small Companies in the U. S. Today". News commentator Paul Harvey described Audiscan by saying: "It promises to be the best yet audience survey".

For the first 10 years of business, most Audiscan reports were 2,000 readings and were produced exclusively for radio station sales use in selling advertising on their stations to individual advertisers and agencies whose business was automobile related or to a business that depended upon customers coming to them by motor vehicle. Many users were so successful, their results were phenomenal, and many of their testimonials are on file with Audiscan. A few of the amazing comments: "The most exciting development in radio since Marconi and his antenna." "We are "sold" on Audiscan." "Your electronic method tells it like it is." "It's the most believable survey I've seen, and that is with 25 years in the business." "My job is easier, as well as more efficient, for our clients." "You don't have to ask people to remember what station they listen to..the radio does all the talking." "It's a great piece of research."

Audiscan is generally given credit for being the first survey company to successfully scan automobile traffic electronically and produce a report on the results. However, as early as 1957, a successful system was developed for electronically telling what radio station a motor vehicle was tuned to. The system was for AM detection only and required a huge truck full of equipment for deployment. This was well before the advent of integrated circuits. To our knowledge, Audiscan was the first electronic survey company to take advantage of integrated circuits. This allows small scanning systems to be placed in unmarked, unobtrusive scanning vehicles leaving most drivers and passengers totally unaware of the scanning process.

After the first 10 years of business, the Audiscan reputation for getting "radio advertising results" began to catch on with some national and regional advertisers. Some of these advertisers were manufacturers who recognized the ability of Audiscan to motivate listeners, so they wanted to solely sponsor some of the Audiscan surveys. That way they could get the advantage over their competition with more successful radio campaigns. By solely sponsoring some of these surveys, their competition could not use these reports as they had in the past when they were supplied to them by radio stations' sales people. This, of course, was good for the radio industry in general, but it changed the way Audiscan did most of their surveys. For the past few years, many Audiscan Reports are done quietly without the knowledge of the radio stations. If however, ONE station in the market knew of the market being scanned, then ALL STATIONS had to be notified. This stipulation was insisted on by the sponsors in order to be fair to all of the stations and to insure no unfair promotion by a station who knew about the survey while others did not. This practice is always followed as closely as possible by Audiscan. These sole sponsors also feel this practice keeps the result "pure" because they are not influenced by unbalanced promotion. Of course, sole sponsorship of a complete report is much more costly to the individual advertiser, but they consider the information so vital to sales that they feel the extra money is "well spent". This, again, is a tremendous testimonial to the power of an Audiscan Report.

Most Audiscan Reports performed now are complete 4,000 reading reports done by contract for manufacturers, dealerships, fast food chains, agencies, and radio stations. Sometimes the entire report is done individually for their sole consumption or is done occasionally in conjunction with advertisers and/or radio station(s). In several markets, the sole sponsor will allow radio stations in the market to participate and share in the overall cost of the study. Radio station notification of the availability of the report in a specific market, however, is not the responsibility of Audiscan and only of little financial benefit to Audiscan since the cost of the survey is guaranteed by the original sponsor. In these types of surveys, Audiscan makes an effort to contact stations in the market to advise them of the availability, but if a radio station wants to share in the use of the results, it is the responsibility of the station to contact Audiscan.

Audiscan also performs specialized, customized reports for vacation areas such as Branson, Missouri; Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; and Beverly Hills, California. In fact, a study has been done in Branson for the past 12 years with Dollywood being done for 6 years. Smaller special reports similar to the one done in Rodeo Drive traffic are also available. Many resort areas do not have large populations but have thousands of motor vehicles on their streets at any given time, so a report such as Audiscan is invaluable for such an area and is probably the only way to tell what the majority of radio listeners are tuned to. Other specialized reports such as Christmas Lights Celebration reports and Spring Break reports are available. More information is available by CLICKING on the "Special Reports" button on the Home Page of this site.

Copyright © 2002 Audiscan All Rights Reserved