Arbitron Tells Jacobs Radio Owner His Facebook Posting Was A Violation

Posted Arb Instructions On Facebook

ARBITRON has put JACOBS RADIO Rock KLKY and Top 40 KWCQ/YAKIMA Station Owner/GM JEFF JACOBS on notice for posting a picture of an ARBITRON diary instruction page on his FACEBOOK page. The move is a violation and creates a "ratings bias."

ARBITRON released this special notice that was included in the YAKIMA book.

"During MAY 2013, the GM of KLKY and KWCQ posted a picture of the ARBITRON diary instruction page on his FACEBOOK page, accompanied by the words 'ARBITRON survey' along with the following:

"'Warning: If you get one of these in the mail send it back letting them know you listen to U-ROCK RADIO and 107.3 THE BEAT!'

"We are concerned about activities by radio station personnel, in any medium, that may differentially prompt a particular station’s listeners to participate in ARBITRON’s survey (relative to other stations’ listeners) or differentially prompt ARBITRON diarykeepers to report listening to a particular station (relative to reporting their listening to other stations).

"The GM’s FACEBOOK posting directly encourages participation in ARBITRON’s survey by listeners to KLKY (U-ROCK RADIO) and KWCQ (which promotes its translator as 107.3 THE BEAT). In addition, the posting explicitly instructs ARBITRON diarykeepers to report listening to KLKY and KWCQ, creating a strong visual connection between ARBITRON’s survey diary and the request to report KLKY and KWCQ listening.

"As in the case of other such activities, ARBITRON does not attempt to determine the extent of any possible bias or distortion. Our actions in this matter are intended to alert users of this report to activities that have been conducted in their market. ARBITRON continues to discourage all stations from conducting activities that may have the potential to bias survey participants or distort survey results."

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