A Programming Guide To Winning
The Ratings Game
Outsmart the System, Stack the Deck, and Win Big
If your success—and bonus—depends on the next book, you need more than a great-sounding station or show. You need a strategy to master the nuances of the most perplexing game in media. Get the insider strategies and tactics to tilt the game in your favor.
WHY YOU NEED THIS BOOK!
📉 This is your roadmap to stop reacting and start winning—no matter how broken the system is. Meters? It's all here. Diaries? Same. A thorough guide to play and win!
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Understand The Game
. Whether you're in a Diary or PPM market, you need to know what you're dealing with to develop a strategy to play the game. Get details on exactly how ratings work (and don't work)!
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Know The Players
Get the truth about sample sizes and why they're smaller than the guest list to your Christmas party. When you understand who determines your fate, it will change everything about how you program.
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Three Ways To Win
There are three (and only three) ways to increase your audience. All are good, but two are a fool's game. You need to learn how master the one that works every time in every situation.
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Manage The Game
How to maintain a cool head and focused approach, whether the ratings gods smile in your favor or your share plummets. Find out what's important-and what is not-to avoide a Ratings Freak Out.
Video Highlights From The Ratings Game
What is The Ratings Game?
Building a popular, successful radio station does not ensure ratings success. And ratings success doesn't mean you're a great radio station. Radio ratings are a game, and if you're going to play (meter or diary), don't you think it's a good idea to know how the game is won? That's why I wrote it. Now, hear what it's all about.
"Tracy tells it like it is."
"The ratings system has never been explained so clearly. This book tells it all...the good, the bad, and the ugly. And most importantly, it shows you exactly what you have to do to win The Ratings Game. It should be required reading for every PD and personality in every radio company."
HIGHLIGHTS
The Ratings Game reveals how the system really works—and how to use it to your advantage.
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Understand Ratings Math (Without getting a migraine)
Break down the formulas, decode the details behind how every aspect of ratings are calculated.
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Hack The System
Exploit the quarter-hour loopholes (and there are a lot of them) to maximize your listening credit.
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Double Your Ratings
Use Tracy’s proven strategy to generate more tune-ins, appointments, and quarter-hours—without more ads or contests.
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What Really Works
Most programmers are focused on the wrong things. Get the one can't-miss way to grow your ratings!
INSIDE THE RATINGS GAME
Nearly 200 jam-packed pages to transform your ratings strategy
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Chapter 1: The Ratings Game Explained...Without the Corporate Spin
A crash course in the game you’re being forced to play—whether you like it or not. What's really happening "behind the curtain".
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Chapter 2: Math, Meters & Mayhem: How Ratings Actually Work
The math isn’t hard, but it’s weird and can be confusing. Let’s decode AQH, Cume, and all the other initials so you can speak the language of influence.
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Chapter 3: The Ratings Sample: Who’s Rating You? (Spoiler Alert: It’s Not Who You Think)
They say “every listener counts”—but in The Ratings Game, that’s not true. Only a few matter. Let’s talk about meters, panels, samples, and the few people with all the power.
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Chapter 4: PPM vs. Diary: Two Ratings Systems. One Big Headache
Getting people to listen doesn't win The Ratings Game. You have to get credit for it, and the game is different based on methodology. Here’s what it means for you.
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Chapter 5: Pick Your Strategy: Three Ways to Win the Ratings Game
Ratings aren’t won by accident. There are three distinct ways to play the game—and knowing your lane is the key to winning it.
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Chapter 6: How To Double Your Ratings (No, Really. You Can Do This)
Math, manipulation, and mastering momentum—how you can turn a 1.0 into a 2.0 or a 3.6 into a 7.2. Or a 17 share into a 34 share. It works for all stations.
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Chapter 7: The Ratings Hack Playbook: Beat The System with Strategy, Not Whining
This is where strategy turns into sorcery. Squeeze every drop of credit from the content you’re already creating—and double your numbers without adding a single new listener.
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Chapter 8: When Ratings Crap the Bed And Everyone Freaks Out
Step away from the panic button. Here’s how to think clearly, course-correct smartly, and avoid reactionary chaos when ratings go against you.
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Chapter 9: Optimize To Win: 16 Tweaks That Move the Ratings Needle
A playbook of quick hits, tweaks, and pro moves. Nothing theoretical. Just 21 ways to optimize what you’re doing right now to win more often.
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Chapter 10: The Future of Ratings: Wearables, Cars, and Wildcards
The measurement revolution is coming (finally). Here’s what’s next—and how to stay ahead of the curve while the industry catches up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tracy Johnson
Tracy Johnson is one of the radio industry’s most trusted programming strategists and talent coaches. For decades, he’s worked with major market stations, national brands, and local personalities to decode ratings reports, engineer format success, and create audience-first strategies that win.
His deep understanding of how the system really works—flaws, freak-outs, and all—has helped thousands of broadcasters build sustainable success, not just survive the next book. Known for turning complex ratings data into actionable insights, Tracy brings a custom approach to every station, show, and challenge.
In The Ratings Game, he shares the same proven strategies he’s taught behind closed doors—so you can stop reacting to the system and start using it to your advantage.
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