The economics of commercial broadcasting are driven by estimates of audience size and type, and organizations such as the Arbitron Company and SRI (originally Stanford Research Institute) provide measurements of listenership to radio sta­tions and networks. These measurements determine prices the media can charge for commercial time. The methods of audi­ence research have changed greatly in the years since 1930, when the first system of ratings was introduced. Along the way, media researchers such as Hugh Beville influenced the direction and quality of the audience research process, helping to shape today's business of broadcasting.

Beville went to work for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) at age 22 and spent the greater part of his career working in research for the company's radio and television networks, only leaving for a brief period during World War II to serve in the army. NBC had been in existence for only three years in 1930, when Beville was hired as a statistician. That same year, the Cooperative Analysis of Broadcasting released its first radio rating report. Beville's 38-year career coincided with the development of the field of audience research, and he made significant contributions to its development. Although he is perhaps best known for his insights into the ratings collection and analysis process, he is also credited with improving both quantitative and qualitative audience research methodologies.

     As early as the mid 1930s, Beville was involved with the Joint Committee on Radio Research to study radio audiences. He developed the first nationwide study of daytime audiences and was one of the first researchers to identify and track seasonal listening patterns. In his later years he was closely involved in decisions about crediting videotape recorder usage in television audience ratings, and he contributed to the planning and development of the People Meter system of measurement. Concerned with differences in population estimates among rating services, he helped develop a more compatible system of estimation using data from Market Statistics, Inc. He also worked on a system for estimating station circulation­ something most industry practitioners take for granted now that the process has been refined.

     Beville rose through the ranks at NBC during his 38 years there, from statistician to manager of research, director of research, and finally to vice president for planning and research in 1964. After retiring from NBC in 1968, he became a professor of business administration at Long Island College in Southampton, New York, teaching marketing and management. From 1972 to 1982 he was the executive director of the Electronic Media Ratings Council in New York and later served that organization as an independent consultant. Throughout his career, Beville enjoyed widespread respect in the media industries. Leo Bogart, a friend and colleague, described him as "a very earnest, soft-spoken gentleman, with sound professional judgment and a good eye for picking talented associates."

     Beville fought many battles to ensure that audience ratings were estimated fairly and interpreted correctly. During his tenure at NBC, he served as the networks' representative to the Advertising Research Foundation for 15 years. In 1963 he helped to establish the Broadcast Ratings Council (BRC), which later became the Electronic Media Research Council (EMRC) and eventually the Media Research Council (MRC), an organization formed in response to congressional hearings that questioned the integrity of the audience measurement process. Its mission is to ensure that ratings firms follow research protocols so that users of the data are able to correctly interpret the information.

     One of Beville's major concerns was that companies supplying audience research data were too secretive about what they were doing. He argued that their research should be transparent-that clients should know exactly what they were getting. On several occasions he admonished the users of audience research data to recognize the drawbacks and limitations of statistical information as well as its usefulness. In a 1981 NAB newsletter he was quoted as saying: " ... every measure of everything has limitations. Knowing this is part of the requirement of becoming a professional working to make these limitations known and clear-and as limited as possible." He believed that there could be no perfect audience measurement system and that users of audience data had to live with trade­-offs between cost, accuracy, and/or speed of delivery. At the same time, he was always concerned with studying the measurement process to improve research methods. He was a founding member of the American Association of Public Opinion Research (AAPOR), an organization that today continues the quest for better research.

     The broadcasting industry often turned to Beville for his opinions on current issues. He wrote analyses for trade journals, spoke at industry events, and was frequently consulted about issues that affected audience measurement. His Audience Ratings: Radio, Television, Cable became an indispensable text in the field, explaining to lay and professional readers what the ratings process is all about.

     In 1986 the Market Research Council (MRC), an organization that Beville had formerly served as president, selected him for its Research Hall of Fame. In 1989 the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) and the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) announced the creation of the Hugh Malcolm Beville award to "recognize noted researchers who have made major contributions to the advancement of audience research in the broadcasting industry." The first award was given to William Rubens, retired vice president of research for NBC.