The National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters, along with MMTC and the Spanish Radio Association, is getting ready to respond to the FCC’s recent query about Arbitron’s PPM program. To that end, it’s sending out a questionnaire to all members to gather first-hand information on the PPM topic. NABOB also noted efforts in Congress to procure stimulus aid for minority broadcasters and reiterated its objections to the Performance Rights Act and support for a congressional investigation into PPM.
Here are the questions NABOB is asking of its membership:
1. What effects has PPM methodology had on your company’s sales, programming, or personnel operations?
2. What long-term and short-term business decisions have you made that are a direct result of the deployment of PPM methodology?
3. What effects has PPM methodology had on program services to local communities you serve?
4. Does PPM measure active listening differently than sporadic listening, and does this produce more accurate ratings than diaries for your stations?
5. Does PPM measure specific demographic groups inaccurately or misrepresent the size of your station’s audience, especially minority audiences? If so, how can this problem be corrected to ensure accurate ratings?
6. What effect does under-sampling of minority groups have on your station’s ratings and the ability to accurately determine a minority broadcaster’s audience?
7. Are broadcasters and advertisers able to accurately evaluate PPM ratings without zip code and country of origin data?
8. Should you be able to use PPM ratings to demonstrate your station’s compliance with the Commission’s rules? Should MRC accreditation be required before your station is able to rely on this data for its dealings with the Commission?
9. Which of the following improvements in PPM methodology would resolve the problems detailed in this questionnaire?
* Increased recruitment of cell-phone-only households.
* Increased address sampling methodology to ensure minority participation.
* Ensure that panels are comprised of accurate and proportional representative of the market’s population.
* PPM accreditation by the Media Rating Council (“MRC”).
* Sampling to include country-of-origin data.
* Multi-lingual compliance programs demonstrating meter use to incompliant panelists, for all PPM markets.
Meanwhile, it noted efforts in Congress, led by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-SC), to set up a program to provide federal assistance from the Treasury Department for troubled minority broadcasters.
Along with MMTC and SRA, NABOB is working on House Judiciary Committee Chair John Conyers (D-MI) and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chair Edolphus Towns (D-NY) to launch PPM investigations.
Finally, NABOB is an active participant in the resistance to Conyers’ Performance Rights Act. A majority in the House has cco-sponsored a measure indication their objection to the bill.
RBR/TVBR observation: We still wonder exactly where the FCC’s jurisdiction comes from in this matter, but if they’re going to be collecting opinions, you’d be crazy not to weigh in as forcefully as possible.
