Actually, once you have participated, there is a high likelihood of remaining on their list. I have been TV surveyed twice and am currently in the radio diary (which pays a total of $12 per person in your home over 12 years old). Plus, the Nielsen ratings are often used to determine what shows stay on the air and what gets cancelled, so I am happy to fill it out.
They called today did not leave a message. I have done these Nielsen survey's before. If you decide to participate in the survey:
Make up a fake birthday year. If you are over 49, they will let you do the survey but they don't care what you think. All that work will be for nothing. Advertisers are only interested in the 18-49 demographic. Then add a couple fake young people to the diary entry (18-23 yrs old) pretend you have kids living at home. Now you got some power.
Filling out the survey is a pain in the [***].
However, it's kind of cool to have some power over who in the industry gets your vote. If your a republican, say you listened to Rush. If your a liberal, say you listened to Thom Hartman. If you like a local morning show, say you listened to them for 3 hours (very few truly local shows left-good to support them).
Then if somebody you don't like gets cancelled for low ratings-you can say you had a hand in that! NICE!!! YOUR FIRED!!!