After voicing concerns about the effectiveness and cost of Arbitron's Portable People Meter, Clear Channel agreed earlier this year to use the system in Philadelphia. Now that you're on board with PPM, how quickly do you expect to adopt it in other markets?
It depends on how quickly they commercialize it in other markets. We continue to have concerns about the PPM methodology and reliability, as well as the price. We are a very, very strong proponent of electronic measurement [but] it's baffling why in this instance, technology is making things more expensive, rather than less expensive.
We continue to talk with Arbitron and we've shared these same concerns with them. I'm not particularly impressed with it thus far. They're showing an increase in the number of listeners and a significant decrease in the amount of time people are spending with radio. I question the methodology. I question the way they assemble a [listener] panel, I question their ability to accurately reflect black and Hispanic listening. [ MORE ]
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