PPM Flap Makes It To Local N.Y. Newspaper

Local N.Y. Paper Analyzes PPM

The radio world was wrapped up discussing PPM last week, with ARBITRON agreeing to Independent reviews of PPM (NET NEWS 11/9) and NEW YORK Urban radio voicing its displeasure (NET NEWS 11/8). Now, PPM gets even more coverage in the mainstream press in TODAY's NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, when DAVID HINKLEY writes:

"There's only one reason the average radio listener should care about the new 'personal people meter' (PPM) ratings system that's rumbling through NEW YORK radio like a category 5 hurricane. That's because the decisions radio stations will be making on the basis of this new ratings system could determine what shows, what music or what formats are on the air.

Since the whole point of switching to PPM is that it provides a more accurate picture of true listenership and thus will enable radio to sell more advertising, companies that own stations will want formats that do well by these new rules.

CBS RADIO switched 102.7 FM to the "FRESH" format, 92.3 FM back to the K-ROCK sound and WCBS-FM (101.1) back to a classic hits format in large part because the company anticipated those formats would do well with the PPM system, which measures listening with an electronic recording device rather than depending on Arbitron panelists to manually record their listening in daily diaries.

Under the new PPM system, ARBITRON has concluded that many radio stations have far more weekly listeners than previously thought, but that those listeners tune in for considerably less time than the diaries indicated.

Since the whole point of switching to PPM is that it provides a more accurate picture of true listenership and thus will enable radio to sell more advertising, companies that own stations will want formats that do well by these new rules.

In the first results, which ARBITRON says it will analyze and fine-tune in months ahead, black and "ethnic" stations that traditionally have depended on listeners staying tuned for long periods of time have taken a big hit. WBLS dropped from #1 among 25-54-year-old listeners down to #12.

The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BLACK-OWNED BUSINESSES (NABOB) released a letter THURSDAY (NET NEWS 11/8) asking ARBITRON to slow down its PPM rollout "until it corrects significant flaws."

In any case, if the current lowered numbers for black and ethnic radio continue, programmers warn some of those formats will simply disappear, because they will be far less profitable than mainstream formats that feature pop and rock.

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