Is Kicks Talking to Arbitron Diarykeepers?

[RoddyFreeman]

At the end of a traffic report I heard this morning, Jim Vann said, "Please remember your time listening to Cadillac Jack and Kristin on Kicks 101-5."I guess there's nothing wrong with that, but it's close.

 

[Twitch]

I remember a teacher of mine telling me a story about a station (back x number of years ago) that would have station promos that would have soft, dreamy music in the background, and the voice over would say something like this:"Dear diary,I listened to W_ _ _ today......."Now THAT'S pushing it...

 

[RTibbs]

680 the Fan has been doing that forever. I forget how it goes because I hardly listen but they would sign off the sports update with I am Rob Dribble reminding you to rember the time you listen to Buck and Kincaid. Look at their ratings it really doesn't help them.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

Years ago, two top-40 stations in Washington, DC, WPGC and WRC, both had a "write it down" contest during an Arbitron survey. They would play recordings of a station person going up to someone on the street and asking the person to write which radio station he or she listened to. If they wrote WPGC (or WRC), people in the promo would win money. The stations would end the promo by saying, "If someone asks you to write down which station you listen to, write down WPGC and you could win money." IIRC, this one got flagged by Arbitron.

 

[Hammer5]

SportsRadio 610 in Houston has on their internet streaming the statement "Remember the time...and remember you are listening to the SportsRadio 610 sports stream." Or something very close to that. I guess that is kosher with the Arb guys.

 

[FloydB]

This has gone on for years. I remember the TV station I worked for in Augusta (and the others following suit) having a promo "If you need to write it down, you're watching WJBF, NewsCHANNEL 6", and because it's worded that way, they'd slip it in as the legal as well. I think the radio stations were doing the same.

 

[ck dexter haven]

Kimmer does this all the time

....and he better hope someone hasn't taped it and submitted it to Arbitron.

 

[homersimpson]

I think it's fine what they are doing. It's not referring to Arbitron directly and it's not telling them to write down any additional non-listening time. If they said, "remember the time and add an hour and if someone asks you who you listen to remember to always say KICKS," then they've got a problem.

 

[trevor2]

Like the above post about Augusta, during my years in broadcast TV our station also ran "If you need to write it down..." legal IDs. Nielsen is aware of these, and actually mentions them in the front pages of ratings books for that period. They're legal. Ineffectual, but legal.