Obama Fights To Kill 'Racist' Radio Ratings Technology

OBAMA'S KOOKIEST CAUSE

Illinois Senator Pushes Ban On Electronic Ratings Monitoring





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Though it has received little in the way of mainstream media attention to date, Barack Obama has quietly jumped into the middle of one of the kookiest conspiracy theories ever encountered in the world of broadcasting.

For over a year, so-called civil rights leaders have been battling the implementation of a new, more precise radio ratings service developed by Arbitron. Aiding their fringe cause has been New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, Senator Dick Durban (D-IL) and other Democrats.

Using electronic monitoring devices known as portable people meters (PPM), the company has attempted to put an end to the wildly inaccurate, diary-based method in use for decades.

Because the new system doesn't allow cheating, meaning over-reporting listening to one's favorite programming, some specialty formats such as "Urban" and others will see substantial ratings declines under PPM.

A second concern is that ethnic minorities will be less willing to wear the PPM device than whites. But Arbitron's own data indicates that isn't the case.

And within the industry, the company's reputation has been quite the opposite, to the point where some have felt these groups were oversampled in many markets.


While hip-hop outlets take a hit, conservative news-talk is experiencing an enormous surge. In fact, newly- released PPM data issued in defiance of a lawsuit threat by Cuomo revealed huge gains by talkers across the country.

That included a massive 3.6 (spring 2008 under the old system) to 4.8 jump for New York City's conservative WABC in the overall 12 and older demographic. In Los Angeles, KFI moved from a 4.0 to 4.2, while Chicago's WLS surged from 3.0 to 4.5 and Philly's WPHT rocketed from 3.8 to 5.0. And in San Francisco, KGO moved from 5.2 to 6.5.

At WABC, Rush Limbaugh (now ranked fourth among all stations, including music, with a huge 5.3 share), Sean Hannity (third with a 4.8) and Mark Levin (first with a 6.5) have all turned in stellar numbers under PPM.


With the exception of KGO, all of these stations carry Limbaugh and most run Hannity. That gives Obama more than enough reasons to fight the PPM's introduction, which he has done with a poorly- researched letter to Arbitron's CEO, demanding the system be scrapped, at least until the Justice Brothers have had sufficient time to manipulate it to their liking.

By artificially boosting hip-hop while undermining conservative talk radio, Obama could kill two birds with one stone.

In a major blunder, Obama apparently confused Arbitron's Media Rating Council (MRC), which provides independent accrediation for their service, with the Media Research Center, resulting in an erroneous "Media Research Council" reference contained in the letter.

Reaction from key industry observers has been harsh: one called the effort to defeat PPM "moronic and selfish", while another, an Obama supporter, had this to say:

The story took a weirder turn when Barack Obama joined Dick Durbin in protesting PPM for the Chicago rollout. Full disclosure: I have contributed to the Obama campaign, and I have one of his signs on my lawn. But in the midst of the worst financial meltdown this side of Herbert Hoover, who's advising him about even commenting on radio ratings at this point in his campaign?

For its part, Arbitron has indicated that it will fight back in court against Cuomo's suit, but Obama's entrance into the debate may increase the pressure to cave into these fringe special interest groups.

Though Cuomo's action has received some mainstream press attention, Obama's role has generally been left out of their coverage. Is this because they know he's done something profoundly stupid and are covering for him as a result?


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