Civil RIghts Activists, Cuomo, NYC Council Denounce 'Racist' Radio Ratings

HIP HOP PROTECTION SQUAD

Accurate Audience Measurement System Denounced







Why would anyone fear the most accurate, high tech radio ratings system ever invented?

Just ask elected officials in New York, such as Democratic state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, the New York City Council, as well as the left wing, so-called civil rights activists who have spent more than a year working to shut down Arbitron's new Portable People Meter system. They can't wait to kill it and may succeed in doing just that.

Today, they're leading the charge against PPM, with Cuomo wasting tax money to open an investigation, while the council has just held a hearing on the matter.

Under the old diary-based system, cheating was a cinch: major fans of a program could simply "vote" for it by recording a wildly inflated amount of listening over the week-long survey period. This tended to favor Hip Hop and perhaps one or two other formats where listeners have a particularly strong devotion to the music and personalities.

In New York, where dueling Hip Hop morning hosts actually provoked violence, the stakes were high. For several years, it began to resemble gang warfare, with call letters replacing traditional designations.

While the PPM system has already been implemented in a number of major cities, New York was forced to abandon it after a one-month trial last year resulted in collapsing Hip Hop numbers and a surge for conservative news talk radio.

Interestingly, in San Francisco, more recent PPM results have shown large drops for both liberal and conservative talk radio.

Here's what this site had to say in November 2007 about the first results under PPM, versus the old diary-based system:

WABC's outgoing Curtis & Kuby Show, bumped for the return of ratings- challenged Don Imus, had been undercounted by 75,000 weekly listeners. Under the new system, their audience looks especially strong and termination all the more foolish.


Between 10am and 3pm, a period that includes Rush Limbaugh, WABC was shorted 96,000 listeners, which now appear under PPM. Total weekly reach for the station during this time period is now estimated at 646,000.


Sean Hannity was the biggest winner under PPM: his audience was found to be 182,000 persons larger than previously believed, bringing the the station's 3-7pm total to 642,000.


And at night, a similar story: a 154,000 undercount under the diary system, bringing WABC's 7pm - midnight tally to 438,000.


No wonder the Sharptonians want a recount: this is the worst news they've heard in years. Not only is gang- banging hip hop far less popular than anyone previously believed, but conservative talk radio is much bigger in New York City than expected.

For years, talk radio programmers have felt the old system punished talk radio, calling the phenomenon "phantom cume". Now the proof is at hand, using scientific methodology.

And from Brian Stelter in today's New York Times:

Arbitron produces radio ratings that are used to buy and sell advertising time. Despite resistance from some broadcasters, the company has gradually introduced the personal people meter, a cellphone-size device that recognizes which station is being tuned in. The company estimates the audience size for radio stations by extrapolating from the results of its consumer sample.

Arbitron says the devices are more accurate than diaries, which are based on recall.

Initial tests of the meter last year showed steep ratings declines for some radio stations that cater to minority groups and younger listeners. James L. Winston, the executive director of the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, said the people meters were not measuring an adequate sample of African-Americans and Hispanics, thus putting stations with urban formats at a disadvantage.

“The sample size they are conducting their studies with is too small, and that causes their data to be unreliable,” Mr. Winston said.

In a statement on Tuesday, Arbitron maintained that the audience sample that had been selected to carry the people meters “fully represents the diversity of New York radio markets.” The company previously delayed the introduction of the meters in New York by nine months to improve the diversity of its sample, and it says that the sample is now broadly inclusive.

Minority broadcasters had encouraged the attorney general’s office and other government agencies to investigate Arbitron’s use of people meters. A coalition of broadcasters petitioned the Federal Communications Commission to intervene last week, and the commission is now conducting a public comment period.

Mr. Cuomo’s office is going further. On Tuesday it issued a subpoena to gather information about the people meters.

And from All Access, a major industry trade publication, here's an account of what "civil rights" pressure groups argued before the council today:

NABOB Exec. Dir And General Council JAMES WINSTON testified that, "I am here to talk about the greatest threat to the survival of minority owned radio in the UNITED STATES."

He continued, "ARBITRON maintains a monopoly over the business of measuring the audiences of radio stations. The existence of ARBITRON's monopoly means that, if radio stations do not subscribe to the ARBITRON ratings service, those stations will have no ratings data to present to advertisers who purchase advertising time on radio stations. In short, radio stations live and die according to the audience ratings and market ranks reported by ARBITRON."

"It is for this reason that NABOB is asking that the FCC and other government entities investigate ARBITRON's PPM audience measurement system, said WINSTON. "ARBITRON has been denied accreditation by the MRC in both NEW YORK and PHILADELPHIA. The failure of ARBITRON to obtain MRC accreditation for PPM in PHILADELPHIA and NEW YORK is a situation that calls for investigation, because that failure suggests that there are other deficiencies in the methodology that are not yet apparent."

"If ARBITRON is allowed to move forward issuing flawed reports on African American and Hispanic audiences, it will result in huge financial losses for radio stations serving those audiences and might even force some stations out of business."

NABOB refers to the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters.

Funny enough, within the industry, Arbitron has a history of bending over backwards to make sure minorities were well- represented in the ratings. At times, they've even been accused by some of oversampling certain groups, Hispanics in particular. That's what makes these arguments seem so peculiar.


The bottom line is this: so-called "urban" stations enjoyed years of wildly inflated audience estimates that resulted in unsustainable ad rates. Now that an accurate system for measuring listenership has finally come along, it has been turned into a political issue by those who stand to lose the most money. Recruited for this dubious "cause" are pressure groups who have succeeded in generating political momentum.

That Cuomo and other Democrats would be foolish enough to go along with this scheme demonstrates shameless liberal pandering toward a bunch of nattering nabobs.


FOR New England regional talk radio updates, see our other site.



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