The invention records real-time radio and television listener data utilizing automated, interactive questions and radio and television broadcast audio segments recorded by telephone, including wireless cell phones. Telephone users are asked to hold their phone in the direction of any broadcast audio they are hearing or listening to. Streaming program audio directly from radio and television broadcasts is matched to the program audio recorded from telephone users using computer audio matching technology. When an audio match is made, recorded data will automatically populate an alpha/numeric database creating a record including fields for identifying the radio or TV station, time of recording, the phone user's 10 digit telephone number and demographic information on the listener. Demographics may be obtained prior to the call or by automated interactive questioning, during a call, with the phone user responding to questions verbally or by pushing appropriate keys on the telephone keypad.