Is it programming or panelists?

Two monthly client calls ago Arbitron had Radio One Houston Market Manager Doug Abernethy explain how his Urban cluster dealt with the change to Portable People Meters (PPM), first questioning sharp ratings declines, but then focusing on programming elements to hold listeners and push AQH ratings back up (3/31/08 RBR #63).

Consultant Randy Kabrich, long a PPM critic, suggests that something else may have been at work in that ratings recovery. Arbitron was also working to increase African-American participation in its Houston PPM panel. Kabrich plotted the market's Black 6+ in-tab along with the Black 6+ AQH ratings of the two stations. The result is an interesting chart.