The radio ratings business has never been particularly glamorous, unless your idea of excitement involves staring at spreadsheets, arguing over demographic breakouts and trying to explain to an advertiser why the station everybody in town seems to know isn’t necessarily the station everybody in town is listening to. But behind those numbers are decisions involving millions of advertising dollars, hundreds of broadcasting careers and the financial future of local stations. And as the industry approaches 2027, one ratings company is making it increasingly clear that it intends to become a more substantial part of those conversations.
Eastlan Ratings is expanding, and this time it’s bringing in two people who know what happens after the ratings report lands on the sales manager’s desk.
The company has added longtime radio professionals Jay Kelly and Tommy Ehrman to its client training and support operation as it prepares for further market expansion.
On the surface, this is a personnel announcement involving two experienced broadcasters.
Look a little closer, however, and it raises an interesting question about the future of radio audience measurement.
Is the next battle in the ratings business going to be won by the company with the biggest numbers, or by the company that does the best job teaching broadcasters what to do with them?
Because those are two very different things.
And judging by these appointments, Eastlan understands that selling a ratings service is only the beginning of the relationship.
Two veterans and two very different roads through radio
Jay Kelly and Tommy Ehrman arrive with different professional backgrounds, but their combined experience addresses two areas where radio operators frequently need additional support: turning audience information into advertising opportunities and building effective sales strategies around that information.
Kelly brings a career that stretches across major-market programming, on-air performance, consulting and digital media.
His broadcasting experience includes Seattle, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and Kansas City, where he worked in drivetime radio and programming leadership.
That’s an important distinction.
Kelly hasn’t spent his entire career looking at radio from the outside.
He’s been in the studio.
He’s dealt with programming decisions.
He’s worked in competitive markets where the difference between a successful station and a struggling one can be measured in fractions of audience share.
And he’s experienced the challenge of translating what happens on the air into something that can be explained to advertisers.
His work with Wet Fish Digital also brings another dimension to Eastlan’s operation.
Radio stations are no longer selling only commercial inventory between songs, news updates and morning-show conversations.
They’re selling digital advertising, streaming opportunities, online campaigns and combinations of traditional and emerging media.
That requires salespeople to understand how different products work together.
And it requires them to explain those products without making the advertiser feel like they’ve accidentally enrolled in an advanced mathematics course.
Because nothing brings a sales presentation to a screeching halt quite like a representative saying, “Let me explain our cross-platform attribution methodology,” while the client quietly starts looking for the nearest exit.
Kelly’s background positions him to help broadcasters connect audience research with a broader advertising strategy.
And that is an area where the industry has considerable room for improvement.
Tommy Ehrman started with a mop and worked his way into the money
Then there’s Tommy Ehrman.
And if somebody were writing a screenplay about a person working their way through the radio business, Ehrman’s early career would make a pretty good opening scene.
He began at a radio station in Modesto, California.
As a part-time janitor.
That’s right.
Before the sales meetings, before the management responsibilities and before the discussions about ratings strategy, Ehrman was doing the kind of work that rarely gets mentioned in a broadcasting biography.
He wasn’t cleaning up the station’s ratings. He was literally cleaning up the station.
And somewhere along the way, somebody apparently recognized that the fellow taking care of the building might also have something to contribute to the business operating inside it.
Ehrman advanced through the industry and eventually spent 18 years with Citadel, concentrating on sales and sales management.
His background is particularly relevant to smaller and medium-sized radio markets, where advertising relationships are often intensely local and salespeople may be responsible for everything from prospecting and account management to commercial production and campaign evaluation.
In those markets, ratings information can be extremely valuable.
But only if somebody knows how to interpret it.
Ehrman has built a reputation around the practical construction of advertising schedules, an area that doesn’t always receive the attention it deserves.
Because selling radio advertising is not simply a matter of convincing somebody to purchase a certain number of commercials.
The placement, frequency, duration and consistency of those commercials all influence the likelihood that a campaign will achieve its objectives.
And while there is no universal schedule that guarantees results, thoughtful planning can help advertisers avoid spending money on campaigns that are poorly matched to their goals.
Anybody can sell twenty commercials. The real skill is knowing whether those twenty commercials are going to accomplish anything.
That is precisely the kind of knowledge a ratings company can help its clients develop.
Eastlan isn’t just hiring people to answer the telephone
The company’s expansion into additional radio markets gives these appointments broader significance.
Eastlan has been increasing its presence in markets of varying sizes, including Honolulu, Reno and Tulsa, as broadcasters continue evaluating their audience measurement options. Radio Ink
That expansion creates an operational challenge.
More markets mean more clients.
More clients mean more questions.
More questions mean more training, technical assistance and sales support.
And while the technology behind audience measurement is important, the customer experience can influence whether a broadcaster considers a research service worth the investment.
Eastlan President Mike Gould is making that part of the company’s competitive strategy.
In announcing the appointments, Gould emphasized a preference for direct assistance from knowledgeable people rather than lengthy automated telephone systems or unhelpful chatbots. Radio Ink
NOW THERE’S A CONCEPT. A RADIO COMPANY THAT WANTS SOMEBODY TO ACTUALLY ANSWER THE TELEPHONE.
Imagine that.
A sales manager calls with a question about audience duplication.
A real person answers.
A general manager needs help understanding a market report.
A real person helps.
A salesperson is struggling to explain reach and frequency to a prospective advertiser.
Somebody with actual broadcasting experience walks through the problem.
No endless automated menu.
No digital assistant asking whether you’ve tried turning the ratings report off and back on again.
And no recorded message assuring you that your question is extremely important while simultaneously suggesting you visit a website and figure it out yourself.
If Eastlan can consistently deliver the service it’s promising, that may become an important selling point in its own right.
Of course, promising responsive customer service and consistently providing it across a growing operation are two different challenges.
The real test will come as the company adds markets and the volume of client requests increases.
That’s where Kelly and Ehrman could prove particularly valuable.
The ratings business is becoming a much bigger competitive conversation
For decades, Nielsen has occupied a central position in commercial radio audience measurement.
Its data has influenced advertising decisions, programming strategies, station valuations and the way broadcasters evaluate their performance.
Eastlan operates in a different competitive position, with a particularly established presence in smaller markets and an expanding footprint that now reaches into larger ones.
The two companies’ services are not necessarily interchangeable in every market or for every advertising purpose.
Methodology, coverage, accepted buying practices, sample design and the availability of particular data products all matter.
But greater competition in audience measurement can give broadcasters more options.
And options are especially important when research costs represent a significant expense for station operators.
For a small-market broadcaster, the decision to purchase audience research can compete directly with other operating priorities.
That might mean additional staffing.
Marketing.
Equipment maintenance.
Local programming.
Or investment in digital products.
When those decisions are being made, a ratings company must demonstrate not only that its data is useful but that the resulting business value justifies the expense.
And that’s where Eastlan’s latest appointments connect directly to the company’s larger strategy.
Kelly can help clients understand how radio research fits into an increasingly digital advertising environment.
Ehrman can help translate audience information into practical schedules and sales opportunities.
Together, they represent an effort to make the ratings product more useful after the report has been delivered.
Because a ratings report that nobody understands is just an expensive collection of numbers wearing a business suit.
The small-market stations may have the most to gain
There’s a reason Ehrman’s experience deserves particular attention.
Large-market radio companies often have access to corporate research departments, sophisticated sales systems and experienced specialists who can help interpret audience information.
Smaller operators may not have those resources.
In many communities, the general manager is also the sales manager.
The program director may be responsible for multiple stations.
And a salesperson may be expected to handle everything from developing a campaign to explaining the results.
Those stations need practical assistance.
Not simply more charts.
They need to understand which audiences they’re reaching, how their programming compares with competitors and how to present their strengths to local businesses.
They also need to avoid promising advertisers results that audience measurement alone cannot guarantee.
A ratings service can help estimate exposure.
It cannot independently prove that every listener heard a particular commercial, remembered its message or made a purchase because of it.
That distinction is important.
Good audience research helps broadcasters make better decisions. It does not eliminate the need for good salesmanship, effective creative and realistic expectations.
Ehrman’s experience building radio schedules could be particularly useful in helping smaller-market sales teams connect those pieces.
And Kelly’s digital background may help those same operators explain how traditional radio can complement other advertising platforms rather than compete with them in isolation.
That’s an increasingly important conversation.
Because local advertisers don’t necessarily care whether their customers heard a message through an FM transmitter, a streaming audio service or a digital campaign.
They care whether the advertising helps their businesses.
Radio’s challenge is demonstrating its contribution clearly and credibly.
Hiring experienced broadcasters sends a message of its own
There’s another aspect of this announcement that deserves recognition.
At a time when much of the radio industry is discussing consolidation, automation and reductions in traditional staffing, Eastlan is investing in experienced people.
Not just software.
Not just dashboards.
People.
Individuals who have worked in studios, sales offices and management positions.
People who understand the peculiarities of broadcasting.
People who know that the same ratings number can produce three entirely different reactions depending on whether it’s being examined by a program director, a sales manager or a general manager.
And people who have probably survived enough ratings meetings to qualify for some form of emotional hazard pay.
Because nothing tests a broadcaster’s faith in mathematics quite like discovering that the station across town gained two shares while yours lost one.
Suddenly everybody becomes a research expert.
The program director questions the methodology.
The sales manager questions the sample.
The general manager questions the program director.
And the afternoon personality starts asking whether the station should bring back the music it stopped playing in 1998.
By lunchtime, somebody has suggested changing the format.
By two o’clock, somebody else wants to change the morning show.
And by five, the only person still happy is the competitor.
Experienced support professionals understand those reactions.
More importantly, they can help broadcasters approach audience information with discipline rather than panic.
And that is worth something.
The next question is how much bigger Eastlan intends to become
Eastlan has indicated that additional personnel announcements and new market developments are expected in the coming weeks. Radio Ink
That suggests the Kelly and Ehrman appointments are part of a broader operational expansion rather than isolated additions.
It also raises questions the industry should continue watching.
How many additional markets will Eastlan enter?
Will its expansion increasingly involve larger metropolitan areas?
How will it maintain consistent methodology and service quality as its footprint grows?
Will additional research competition influence what broadcasters pay for audience measurement?
And will Eastlan’s emphasis on training and personal service translate into stronger client retention?
Those questions won’t be answered by a personnel announcement.
They’ll be answered by execution.
But the direction is becoming clearer.
Eastlan is positioning itself not simply as a company that measures audiences, but as a partner that helps broadcasters interpret and use the information.
That’s a meaningful distinction.
And it could resonate with operators who believe audience research should be more than an invoice and a quarterly report.
Two careers and one very timely reminder
There’s something fitting about bringing Jay Kelly and Tommy Ehrman together for this assignment.
One built a career across major-market programming, on-air work, consulting and digital media.
The other started by cleaning a radio station and eventually became an experienced sales executive and scheduling specialist.
Different beginnings.
Different professional strengths.
But both understand the same fundamental truth.
Radio is a business built around people, and the numbers only become valuable when people know what to do with them.
That’s the lesson worth taking from Eastlan’s latest move.
Technology will continue changing how audiences are measured.
Digital platforms will continue influencing how advertising is purchased.
And broadcasters will continue searching for reliable information that helps them compete.
But even in an industry increasingly dominated by automation, the ability to speak with someone who understands your business remains valuable.
Eastlan is betting that its clients will agree.
And if the company succeeds, perhaps the next time a broadcaster calls with a ratings question, the experience will involve less frustration and more useful answers.
Which would be a refreshing change.
Because after everything radio has been through, the last thing a general manager needs is a chatbot telling him his station’s ratings problem can be solved by clearing his browser cache.
Congratulations to Jay Kelly and Tommy Ehrman on their new assignments.
And to Eastlan, here’s hoping the expansion delivers on its promise.
The radio industry doesn’t need more complicated explanations for why its numbers matter.
It needs accurate research, responsive support and practical tools that help broadcasters turn information into better decisions.
And if somebody can finally explain a ratings report without requiring three conference calls, two calculators and a therapist, that person deserves a standing ovation.
On The Dial will continue monitoring Eastlan’s market expansion, new personnel appointments and the evolving competitive landscape of radio audience measurement. The industry’s future depends not only on understanding how many people are listening, but also on helping broadcasters make that listening matter.
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