Basically, the system
works as follows: A local radio
station advertises the dateline,
where consumers call a local
number. You are prompted
automatically to answer demographic
questions about yourself and the
type of person you are looking for.
This first call is free, usually an
800 or 888
number. You then call a 900
or 976 number the next day to
retrieve your “matches”, at nearly
$2 per minute
Management at the
market leader, Spark Network
Services, claims that online dating
websites offer the advantage of
providing a photo, which most people
seeking mates want. They claim that
there are about 13,000 total radio
stations in the country—about 600 of
which operate datelines. This number
has remained about the same since
1998, no growth. They estimate that
Spark and TPI capture 100% of the
market for the automated voicemail
dateline systems. The vast majority
of these 13,000 stations operate
outside the top 50 U.S. markets. A
station needs a sufficient database
and population base to operate a
dateline successfully. In many
areas, the audience is just too
small. That’s why more stations
don’t operate one.