|
| “
|
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.
|
|
Anything that can be fixed is.
ReplyDeleteCasca
The thing is that the people who pay Arbitron for their ratings get real unhappy when the viewing figures start showing a discrepancy with sales figures. Advertisers have gotten burned in the past when they pulled advertising from the Limbaugh show under pressure from "activist" groups and watched their sales plummet. I wouldn't be surprised if Arbitron is slipping unofficial "real" results to their big cash customers in New York to keep them sweet.
ReplyDeleteBought a new F150 in February. It came with Sirius/XM. During the time I used to listen to Rush while driving between job sites, I now listen to Andrew Wilkow. Still get Hannity and Levin in their regular time slots. Conservative talk radio isn't dying, as I see it. It's just moving away from the Ancient Modulation stations which still are that Arbitron, et al., measure. Oh what the hell, it's all fodder for their propaganda mills, anyway. -- Skyhawker, Doug
ReplyDeleteSkyhawker,
ReplyDeleteI wonder how much has moved to Internet Radio. I listen to a fair amount of music that way.
" It's just moving away from the Ancient Modulation stations"
ReplyDeleteSirius/XM are dying on the vine due to Stern sucking them dry. They have to give 6 months away for "wfree"(you still pay for it in the cost of a new car) just to try and pick up subscribers.
I can listen to some DJ prattle on about how great the Beatles were/are(guess what, they sucked then and still do) or I can plug in my Ipod and not hear the same 8 songs all day long. Hell, I can drive for a week straight and never hear the same song.
IrateIrishman