Menendez praises Arbitron probe, Arbitron responds

The decision by the State of New Jersey to take a good hard look at Arbitron’s PPM methodology was applauded by Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), one of those legislators concerned about alleged undercounts of minority audiences. Arbitron once again denied the charges, and said that the MRC, not various and sundry lay political entities, should be evaluating the technology.

“Stations that broadcast into minority communities often provide a lifeline of information that those communities otherwise might not get,” said Menendez. “They provide content, views and values that are particularly important to those communities and often do so in languages that otherwise might be left off the airwaves. When we talk about these outlets, we’re not just talking about broadcasters, we’re talking about advocates—advocates our communities depend on. This is why we are so concerned about the rollout of the personal people meter.”

“I wholeheartedly applaud Attorney General [Anne] Milgram for confronting the questions about this system and searching for answers,” he continued. “And I also applaud the New York City Council for understanding the importance of this issue and for being proactive. At the very least, it is critical that Arbitron provide a service that accurately and consistently measures listening preferences and habits of all audiences regardless of color, race, gender, culture or socioeconomic status. There is simply too much at stake for too many underserved communities.”

Arbitron noted that it is attempting to provide state-of-the-art audience measurement long requested by broadcasters and agencies alike, and that the new methodology has in fact shown larger audiences for radio broadcasters with all types of programming, including Urban and Hispanic formats.

 “Once again, the media industry should be concerned about these continued political encroachments on the valuable role that the Media Rating Council fulfills,” said Arbitron’s Steve Morris. “The MRC oversees a well-established, widely-accepted process that has served television, radio, print, Internet and other ad-supported media for more than four decades.  The MRC has also been a driving force behind the important and continuing quality improvements in the ratings services that the media industry counts on.”

RBR/TVBR observation: Radio professionals of every stripe have been giving Arbitron an earful throughout this process. Nobody wants Arbitron to get it wrong, and there are plenty of companies with a lifeblood stake in this who are holding the ratings company accountable, not to mention key oversight coming from MRC. The entire radio universe is going to have to accept some growing pains. If the Commerce committees on Capitol Hill want to poke their noses into the process and give all sides a chance to air their gripes, it would at least be a consolidated hearing on a national stage. We don’t see how a parade of AGs weighing in will aid the process. Have an opinion on this article? Post your comment below.

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