People You Meter

Sept. 20, 2009 | By John Rabe

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In his most recent column, the LA Times' James Rainey writes about KCRW's problem with the Arbitron ratings. Arbitron recently switched over from paper diaries, which required select listeners to jot down their listening habits, to PPM's, electronic devices listeners wear, which pick up a signal emitted by every radio station.

Rainey writes, "... the shift from the old to the new rating system has cost KCRW more than any other public radio station -- dropping to an estimated 289,000 listeners a week from the 539,000 that Arbitron reported in spring 2008."

One possible explanation for the drop, Rainey writes, is the "halo effect," meaning that Arbitron's diarists wrote down KCRW because they wanted to be perceived as listening to KCRW, even if they didn't.

But he doesn't mention one interesting aspect of the switch from diaries to PPMs. In the paper diary years, whenever an Arbitron listener would give a non-specific station reference -- for instance, jotting down just "NPR" or "All Things Considered" in their diary -- Arbitron would assign those listeners to KCRW and KPCC by formula. For years, the formula was weighted to favor KCRW because Arbitron considered it the dominant NPR station. Imprecise, yes, but the only system they had. Over the course of the pre-PPM years, it is unknowable how many people were really listening to KPCC but were given to KCRW. And vice-versa, of course.

The one thing I'll take issue with is KCRW manager Ruth Seymour's assertion that many of her listeners didn't want to wear the (dorky?) PPMs when they were at the gym, which I take to mean that she thinks her listeners are more beautiful than ours. KCRW's listeners might have better abs, but ours are just as beautiful on the INSIDE.

PS: Rainey also noted that our colleagues at KUSC are kicking huge butt in the ratings, with about three-quarters of a million listeners, most for any public radio station in the country. If they hadn't graciously helped during the station fire crisis, I'd be sticking pins in my Jim Sveda doll.

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