When a radio person gets a diary in the mail, he should:

[troone]

a) Go to Brusters with the $2 and chuck the diary in la corbeille
b) Return it with apologies
c) Mark the show he hosts with an ultra-black sharpie

Anyone had this happen? I'm kind of (but not really) debating this turn of events.

 

[livingfruitvirus]

Donate it to a foundation to help kids read, and then run.

 

[billelder]

I got a call from Arbitron one year and was home free until they asked what I did for a living. ;D
Wait....it's $2 now? lol

 

[beefjerky]

Started Listening: 12 Midnight
Stopped Listening: 11:59 PM

Your Station, Your Show

 

[davideduardo]

a) Go to Brusters with the $2 and chuck the diary in la corbeille
b) Return it with apologies
c) Mark the show he hosts with an ultra-black sharpie

Anyone had this happen? I'm kind of (but not really) debating this turn of events.

Diaries don't just show up in the mail. Homes are recruited by phone, and media affiliation is asked about.

A household with "excessive" listening to one station will be flagged for investigation.

 

[jtudor]

A household with "excessive" listening to one station will be flagged for investigation.

Why? Is it so impossible to believe that a person would listen to one station all day long, and not change to another one?

I know lots of people who listen to one station exclusively. This type of behavior by Arbitron would indicate that they have no interest in listeners who are not dial hoppers.

In my younger years while I was in the business, I could not stand dial hoppers. I had friends who hit the button on the radio every time a commercial came on. Surely you are not saying that Arbitron has any interest in this kind of listener? They will produce no results for the advertisers who pay the freight for the station, which strangely in a roundabout way supports Arbitron.

 

[bgwilde1]

Messing with a diary is serious business...

Forget the ramifications to your station for a moment...

Any Arbitron subscriber can travel to MD and do a diary review.

If your competition wants to research why the sampling seemed off and they find your diary was the reason, the whole book for the market can be recalled, an official complaint can be filed against the station with the FCC (and it would be a serious one warranting more than a scratch 'n sniff investigation), a criminal complaint can be filed against the alleged tampering party, and the least of it would be the negative publicity in the trades and possible the local paper.

There a few things in radio that will get one into serious trouble, but this would be one!

 

[littlejohn]

The only concern ought to be, if it's demonstrated that a diary was fraudently obtained, Arb will delist the station. The rest of the terrible things you list are actions where the burden would be on the person who thought there was hanky and panky; or the State if fraud were alleged. That's a considerable and expensive burden. Thus, legal action, criminal or civil, is very unlikely. However, being delisted will cause enough trouble in and of itself.

Incidentally, the PPM gurus >still< haven't given a reason as to why I couldn't clip the meter to the dog's collar, turn on the radio, and go to work, leaving the dog (presumeably housebroken) inside with the radio. I fail tyo see how that could be differentiated from a housewife working around th ehouse all day wearing a meter. And, the station of my choice would get a nice kiss.

 

[taylorengineer]

Will the big white dog be wearing a PPM? How much is Alfred gonna pay him to wear it?

 

[middlega]

Incidentally, the PPM gurus >still< haven't given a reason as to why I couldn't clip the meter to the dog's collar, turn on the radio, and go to work, leaving the dog (presumeably housebroken) inside with the radio. I fail tyo see how that could be differentiated from a housewife working around th ehouse all day wearing a meter. And, the station of my choice would get a nice kiss.

Nice to see that I'm not the only person who has figured out the biggest flaw in the PPM scam.
Sometimes it sure does feel that way though.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

[quote by Littlejohn]Thus, legal action, criminal or civil, is very unlikely. However, being delisted will cause enough trouble in and of itself.
[/quote]


I'm not so sure you're right, John. In the '70s, a guy on WHBQ-AM in Memphis named George Klein had been the biggest jock in the market for years. He had a TV show and was personal friends with Elvis. But as AM declined, Klein became desparate to stay on the air. So he paid a U.S. Postal worker to intercept diaries and write in WHBQ.

Klein served time in a Federal penitentiary for this.

 

[mshawnarnold]

That's mail fraud or tampering with the United States Postal Service, a federal offense, which is probably what landed him in jail. Considerably different that you being contact by Arbitron as a respondent and loading up the diary on your show or station.

 

[littlejohn]

Slider is correct. (I worked in Birmingspam in the 80s and the story was still around).
Althopugh it may well be, it was simpler to take the guy off the streets using the mail statutes than to try to havge Arb go get him.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

That's mail fraud or tampering with the United States Postal Service, a federal offense, which is probably what landed him in jail.

That's absolutely what it was, and I'm aware of that.

 

[RoddyFreeman]

That's mail fraud or tampering with the United States Postal Service, a federal offense, which is probably what landed him in jail.

That's absolutely what it was, and I'm aware of that.

I love quoting myself. What I'm saying is that, yes, the crime was tampering with the U.S. Mail, but it was Arbitron that filed criminal charges after they reviewed diaries. And yes, putting in excessive hours listening to one station is no crime; Arbitron just discards the diary. But actually tampering with a completed and mailed diary could get someone into serious trouble.