PPM: No one listens to Black radio during the AM in Chicago

[JerseyDude]

Chicago: “Piolin por La Mañana” on WOJO-FM is Number One among Persons 18-34 in AM Drive
Univision Radio revamped its morning show on Radio La Que Buena 105.1 in Chicago, over the summer, moving “Piolin por La Mañana,” hosted by Eddie “Piolin” Sotelo, to WOJO-FM. The result: a steady increase in audience, earning a number one ranking in Morning Drive for the station’s target demographic – Persons aged 18-34 – during the September PPM survey month.


Persons 18-34 AQH Share Ranker
Chicago Radio Metro
Monday-Friday 6am-10am
September PPM Survey Month (August 21-September 17)


Rank Outlet Format AQH SHARE

1 WOJO REG MEX 8.9
2 WUSN COUNTRY 8.3
3 WKSC TOP 40 6.1
4 WLS-FM OLDIES 5.4
5 WLEY-FM REG MEX 5.1
6 WTMX-FM MOD AA 5.0
7 WKQX-FM Alternative 4.5
8 WMVP-AM SPORTS 4.3
9 WCFS-FM AC 3.8
10 WDRV-FM CLASSIC HITS 3.5
10t WBEZ-FM N/T 3.5

How to read: In the Morning Drive daypart, Monday-Friday 6am-10am, 8.9 percent of all radio listening by Persons aged 18-34 in the Chicago Radio metro was to WOJO-FM.

 

[JerseyDude]

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/081006/nym137.html?.v=101

 

[Jay F]

It seems kind of fishy to see 25-54/35-64 type stations like WUSN, WLS-FM, and WDRV make the top 10 18-34 while stations you would expect to do well 18-34 such as WGCI and B96 not make the list.

WGCI more than any other station is worse off with PPM. They were #1 or #2 12+ for decades and now are #15 6+ in PPM. What a difference! 18-34 and 25-54 ranking way down as well.

So it's not a myth that Urban does worse with PPM. Chicago seems to be the most extreme example.

 

[wtrw]

It has nothing to do with WGCI. It has everything to do with
WEARING a PPM device. It's a cultural thing. Big Brother
wants to know where you go, what you do, who you listen to.

Soccer moms are willing to wear the device. Others aren't.

It's an imperfect science, for sure.

 

[oldradiogeezer]

"Soccer moms are willing to wear the device. Others aren't.

It's an imperfect science, for sure."

Um...your post makes no sense and is the reason why America is in the horrrible shape it is. People don't think about things before the speak. They hear a soundbite and sell it off as their own without thinking 'Does this crap make any REAL sense?' and even worse, they blame everything on everyone else, cept themselves!

THE PPM isnt' forced on anyone. It's not like Men in Suits break into your home late at night and weld a beeper to your hip. This is optional participation and if someone's like "yo this thing is whack I ain't wearing it' then don't agree to be part of the survey. It's that simple. By simply saying "no" you give PPM the opportunity to find someone that WILL adhere to the program! And a basic pager like item shouldn't and doesn't scare anyone. Don't even begin to tell me that whites, blacks, hispanics etc don't ALL have cell phones, pagers and other technology on them at all times!?! LOL at anyone who a) says says this line or b) BELIEVES this silly-silly excuse for why their station isn't gettin ratings under PPM

Imperfect science? How? People who agree to be part of the program wear a beeper like tool that (wait for it) DOES EVERYTHING FOR YOU...You don't have to write anything down, you don't have to remember, every 15 minutes for your entire day, what you flipped to and from. There's no missing anything - you live your day and the tool picks up what is within your listening area.

But you're right, someone writing down at the end of their day (or in most cases end of the week) their favorite stations seems much more accurate - and yes, you are correct the age group you speak of, the 18-34 year olds are EXTREMELY resistant to technology where as older people are quick to pickup and use the latest technolgy gadgets...why, my grandma had a cell phone, pager and i-pod before any young folks...

or..maybe..just maybe...the PPM is a rude awakening to stations across chicago that it's not about your favoriate station and weightings...it's about marketing your advertisements to the right audience, and PPM is bringing a more accurate understanding of who is listening to what and when.

Don't be afraid of change. read the book 'who moved my cheese' and then program the station for actual listeners NOT popularity and loyalty from the 1950s era...

sorry, but just tired of America and it's 'woooah is me' attitude always looking for excuses why times are bad - this PPM is a prime example of America and it's blame game rather than dealing with facts, embracing the advanced technology and fixing what is broke!

 

[Arbitorn]

Hey OldRadioGeezer - Arbitron is on the phone. They have set an appointment for you to see Mr. Cuomo at your earliest convenience. Maybe you can get through to him.

 

[[email protected]]

WGCI more than any other station is worse off with PPM. They were #1 or #2 12+ for decades and now are #15 6+ in PPM. What a difference! 18-34 and 25-54 ranking way down as well.

So it's not a myth that Urban does worse with PPM. Chicago seems to be the most extreme example.

Back in the 80's or 90's when Arbitron changed it's methodology for the Diaries, all of a sudden we saw WGCI, WVAZ, and other "urban" stations jump up in the ratings and become part of the Top-10.

Now the methodology has again changed and those stations have settled back in their old ratings position.

The almighty Arbitron has the power to make or break a station, or so it seems. Crazy eh?

 

[b344077]

Yep, maybe PPM will prove once and for all that young folks just want to listen to only music while they are hear on the earth and old folks, once they are getting to the golden gates, want to say "something" before it's their "Big day".

Hooray for PPM's!!

 

[Tom Wells]

As one who must make wonderful modern technology behave, I must say I am not at all suprised there seems to be
something not quite right with the data from the PPM.
Its perfectly believable that the ID data is not being properly encoded on all stations.
Also likely that not all radios accurately pass this encoding into the audio.
Is the PPM microphone/audio circuit able to work in the presence of mind-blowing bass levels?
Any circuitry will have problems decoding a digital signal in presence of signal overload.
Do the PPMs have any auto-level for the microphone, or were they only tested with "sane" listening levels?
Just like ibiquity said HD would work just fine, Arbitron says the PPM would work just fine.
My experience with analog and digital technology has shown me that many digital schemes are not nearly as robust as the
promoters of the technology claim, particularly when a MAJOR link in the chain is an analog medium, as in the case of the PPM,
where the audio comes out of a speaker, and through the AIR, a very weak link for a digital technology.

I read quite a bit about the methodology of the PPM when it was introduced, and I felt the above concerns would prove to be a problem.
The other major problem is that the PPM does not discriminate in any way whether the listener is a captive or unwilling listener.
I won't say it can't work, but I MUST say it has many reasons not to work as well as advertised.

Arbitron claims we won't be able to hear the encoding, but don't worry, the PPM will hear it just fine.... really?

 

[davideduardo]

Back in the 80's or 90's when Arbitron changed it's methodology for the Diaries, all of a sudden we saw WGCI, WVAZ, and other "urban" stations jump up in the ratings and become part of the Top-10.

There was no significant change in methodology. Over the years, Arbitron has used or developed a variety of techniques to try to get truly proportional response and participation from all ages, gendxers and ethnicities so they do not have to use as much weighting to achieve statistical proportionality with the rated universe.

Things like more money for hard to get cells, bilingual diaries for Hispanics, etc. are among the easier to explain. None changes the fact that the objective was to get diary returns as close to proportionality as possible.

 

[davideduardo]

Its perfectly believable that the ID data is not being properly encoded on all stations.

The meter technology is very mature and is about the only part of the PPM system that nobody in any capacity at any encoded station has any doubts about. It works, because it has been tested on air going back nearly a decade.

Also likely that not all radios accurately pass this encoding into the audio.

Asked and answered in the Philly tests 6 years or so ago. The coding is at frequencies all receivers pass quite well. There are several spectral locations where the encoding can go, and there are nearly 200 opportunities to emit a tag each quarter hour... any, in some cases, only 4 or 5 detections could give you credit for the quarter hour.

Is the PPM microphone/audio circuit able to work in the presence of mind-blowing bass levels?

Yes.

Any circuitry will have problems decoding a digital signal in presence of signal overload.

Arbitron has put on real time demonstrations for the technical staffs of any encoding station that asks, and everyone comes away without doubts on the encoding's ability to be detected at any level a listener might have the radio.

The other major problem is that the PPM does not discriminate in any way whether the listener is a captive or unwilling listener.

And that is exactly what the advertisers want to have. Advertisers buy impressions, not attitude. Radio buys ratings so they can price their product with advertisers.

Arbitron claims we won't be able to hear the encoding, but don't worry, the PPM will hear it just fine.... really?

Since I was first involved in a group of industry folks (advertising and broadcasting) when the Philly tests began, there has been no issue with this either. I have never seen a report that the tag could be heard as it only is inserted when it can be masked by content.

 

[davideduardo]

Soccer moms are willing to wear the device. Others aren't.

Actually, women seem less prone to wearing the device than men.

 

[KFodor]

Please understand, I'm just "free thinking" here...I could be wrong...

But, did it ever occur to anyone that some of this problem could be related to how ethnic weighting may have skewed the diary method of Arbitron? If people "voted" for their favorite station by giving heavy listening to a station which they really, really liked...and, due to undersampling, those "heavy listening" diaries got weighted more heavily (especially in the past few years where Arbitron kept admitting publically they were having a harder and harder time getting certain age cells the requisite ethnic diary returns)...that could have resulted in higher shares than PPM is finding.

OK, I admit...this won't explain every book and every situation. And I'm not saying it's the only possible reason. (I'm not a PPM fan yet...) But, in some books this could have over-inflated the ratings of some ethnic stations.

I could be wrong...just a thought.

 

[davideduardo]

But, did it ever occur to anyone that some of this problem could be related to how ethnic weighting may have skewed the diary method of Arbitron?

There is no such thing as "ethnic weighting" in the diary method. Weighting is a polling or survey technique where any part of the sample that is over or under proportionality is adjusted down or up to make that portion proportional to the part of the universe it represents.

If people "voted" for their favorite station by giving heavy listening to a station which they really, really liked...and, due to undersampling, those "heavy listening" diaries got weighted more heavily (especially in the past few years where Arbitron kept admitting publically they were having a harder and harder time getting certain age cells the requisite ethnic diary returns)

Depending on the market, ethnic groups were often the most proportional. The hard to sample group is pretty much young non-Hispanic white males. DST and High Density Hispanic and Black sample frames achieved a significant improvement in proportionality over the years.

And... the fact is that Hispanics are, as the PPM shows even more clearly, less loyal to stations than any other group... dispelling the idea that Spanish language stations enjoy some kind of special loyalty or fanatic listener base. Nobody votes for a station in the diary in this group.

TSL declines in PPM due to higher cumes cause by measurement of incidental listening and hearing which has minimal time spans, and rounding to even time increments in the diary.

 

[Thunderlips]

Shocker....they never listened in the first place. Black people have always been "so down for theirs" so much that during the diary days they said they listened all day long and never switched the channel.

Can't BS anymore

Could it possibly be that black people listen to other stations than "their own"?????????

Sorry GCI, now we're even!! hahahahaha