HOW DO THEY Measure Radio Ratings? It's called PPM

"Arbitron is still working out the kinks," says Elroy Smith, Philadelphia operations manager for Radio One.

Some say it's the reason minority radio owners NEED a bailout!

Is Arbitron doing enough to measure all of the people that listen to the radio? You decide.


From philly.com A small device introduced two years ago in Philadelphia (and Houston) is altering a troubled industry.

No matter where you go or what you do, if radio is playing, the meter picks it up. That is, unless it falls out of your pocket when you're upside down on the jungle gym. "We've had a couple turned in that were found on the playground."

The gizmo is called a portable people meter (PPM), and participants in ratings surveys - some as young as 6 - carry it everywhere. The meter reports what those who tote it around are hearing.

Until 2007, Arbitron Inc., the research firm that compiles radio ratings, calculated audience size by analyzing diaries kept by a random sample of listeners.

While some are happy about the new system, others see it as flawed and possibly discriminatory. Read more

Isn't that interesting? It measures what people are hearing, not what they are listening and paying attention to. That's a big difference!