Arbitron PPM vs. Diaries

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: Meter running on past radio ratings : : : So the question for the radio business is: Were your audience figures wrong then, or are they wrong now? : Was WGCI-FM 107.5 truly the second-most-popular station in the Chicago market, with a 6 percent share of the audience, as Arbitron reported in its spring quarterly ratings, the last compiled using the now-discarded diary system? : If so, how does that square with Arbitron's latest numbers covering the summer quarter, the first using the controversial new technology of portable people meters, which found the Clear Channel urban contemporary outlet tied for 14th place with jazzy sister station WNUA-FM 95.5 (down from 6th), with a 2.7 percent share of the audience? : Clear Channel Chicago executives, through a spokeswoman, declined comment on the new numbers, apparently preferring to let the controversy swirl around them rather than contribute to doubts that can hardly help an industry taking a hit from a slumping economy that has advertisers second-guessing every media buy. : At a time when General Motors Corp. is pulling its customary TV spots from the Super Bowl and Academy Awards, the bickering over the reliability of the new numbers and the sample that produces them can only cost the radio business money. : There may be legitimate questions about the people-meter sample, which is why the third-party Media Research Council has yet to accredit the new system, but it is hard to argue that the small devices that eavesdrop on radio listeners aren't more reliable than handwritten diaries. : "The old days with the diaries were an election … and you didn't have to necessarily listen," said Greg Solk, Chicago-based vice president of programming for Bonneville International, whose WDRV-FM 97.1 and WTMX-FM 101.9 were big ratings winners, especially in the coveted age 25-to-54 demographic, where they were No. 1 and 2 in cumulative audience and sandwiched Spanish-language WOJO-FM 105.1 at No. 1 and 3 in quarter-hour averages. : "People would write down … that they tuned in [a station] at 6 a.m. and listened all the way to midnight," Solk said. "You can't do that with the meter. It's clearly a more realistic view of how people use the medium. People don't listen nearly as long as they say they do, and they listen to more stations than they say." : Bonneville's WDRV-FM and Citadel talker WLS-AM 890, which tied for 10th overall among listeners age 12 and older in the spring diary book, rose to No. 2 and No. 5, respectively, in the metered summer-quarter results. : "The formats they told us from the start [that might decline with meters] were urban, jazz and NPR," said Marv Nyren, who oversees Emmis Communications' Chicago stations, WLUP-FM 97.9 and WKQX-FM 101.1. : CBS Radio's rhythmic contemporary WBBM-FM 96.3 fell from No. 7 to 20th. Citadel's oldies WLS-FM 94.7 surged from a tie for 13th to No. 4. : The 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. slot on WGCI-FM that includes Steve Harvey's syndicated program was No. 5 among listeners 12-plus last spring; in a metered world this summer, it was tied for 21st. : Jonathon Brandmeier's morning show on WLUP-FM moved into the top 10, tied for ninth in the 12-plus ratings and fifth in the 25-54 demo. : Spanish Broadcasting System, parent of WLEY-FM 107.9, which rose from a tie for 15th in 12-plus in the spring diaries to tied for 11th in the summer quarter, called Arbitron's new system "flawed," echoing criticism from presidential candidate Barack Obama and others that the unaccredited people-meter results might discriminate against minorities. : Arbitron defended itself by noting several success stories in markets where meters are coming into use. : Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo's morning show on Univision's WOJO-FM 105.1, for example, was No. 1 in morning drive among listeners age 18 to 34, with 8.9 percent of the listeners in that demo, while WLEY-FM was No. 5. : The same Steve Harvey show that is struggling in Chicago, Arbitron pointed out, is tied for No. 1 in the 25-54 demo in New York. : In any case, there's no sense looking back. There's nothing there. : "The old diary numbers have vanished off of Arbitron's server," Bonneville's Solk said. "You can't use them. They don't exist. We've got three months worth of ratings, as opposed to the 20 or 30 years that we used to have in the bank. They've all been erased, basically." : Diaries are gone but, right or wrong, not forgotten. : (Phil Rosenthal, Chicago Tribune)

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