Case Study: Cornerstone Research achieves faster, more accurate online music research and automated song rotation with Alchemer

How Radio Stations Know What’s Hot and What’s Not

Cornerstone Research, led by Brad Riegel, needed to modernize music research that used to rely on Scantron auditorium tests and phone‑based callout surveys. Facing slow, labor‑intensive processing and in‑person biases, Cornerstone chose Alchemer (then SurveyGizmo) to move auditorium and callout testing online and to enable integrated, scalable music research.

Working with Alchemer, Cornerstone implemented the Hook Exchange — a database of more than 150,000 seven‑ to ten‑second song clips delivered via a custom Alchemer question type — so researchers can stream hooks, collect scores that post directly to the Alchemer database, and feed The Analyst for categorization. The Alchemer integration replaced Scantron and phone workflows with faster, automated online surveys, is used by almost all major broadcasters, and enables real‑time song categorization (A–D) that immediately adjusts station rotations and reduces traditional research biases.

Cornerstone Research

Brad Riegel

Founder