Phony Arbitron Ratings

Playing "Let's Pretend" "A new Arbitron report shows Rush Limbaugh's ratings down 33 percent from a year ago and Sean Hannity down 28 percent over the same time period." Crain's New York Business Newsletter     "Is right-wing talk dying?" John Avlon asked hopefully at The Daily Beast.

“ A few years ago, Arbitron began phasing out diaries and brought in the Portable People Meters, or PPMs. These pager-sized devices automatically record whatever their wearers hear as they go about their day. No need to rely upon fallible human memories, or worry about diarists "fudging" their feedback or forgetting to send it in. The PPM sounded like the accurate, scientific ratings system sponsors and programmers always hoped would be invented. Until the first batch of ratings came in, showing conservative talk going strong and certain, urban and minority programs far lower than ever calculated before. [...] Minority station owners immediately complained. Attorneys general of New York, New Jersey and Maryland filed suits, and Congressmen Edolphus Towns, D-N.Y., and John Conyers, D-Mich., called for investigations into Arbitron, charging that the PPM system was discriminating against minorities. Arbitron moved quickly to placate minority owned stations, their listeners and sponsors. Precisely what the ratings-tracker did remains a trade secret, but Jeffrey Lord's investigation led him to the following conclusion: that Arbitron raised its payouts to PPM participants from $50 a month to as high as $200 (at least according to an industry insider who spoke to Lord anonymously) in order to incentivize lower-income, and thus more minority, participation. Shortly thereafter, the Arbitron ratings of Hispanic and urban radio stations returned to pre-PPM heights, while talk radio ratings showed those precipitous drops that led to so much crowing in the liberal commentariat earlier this year. Read more: Is 'fix' in to sink ratings for Rush, Savage, other conservatives? There's a criminal aspect to this story. If it's true, it seems to me then that Arbitron has engaged in a massive price fixing scheme to redirect revenue into the pockets of the undeserving.  In other words, being Liberal, but in a criminally liable and prosecutable manner.  I'm sure Eric Holder will be all over this one.