There’s been a great deal of controversy in the radio industry over Arbitron’s new ratings system, the Portable People Meter (PPM). The PPM is meant to give a more accurate measurement of radio listening, but since its installation, many stations have seen large drops in their ratings, particularly smaller and minority-owned stations. Many broadcasters are claiming that the PPM system undercounts minority audiences and are refusing to acknowledge the system’s validity. This controversy affects both broadcasters and communications professionals, whether in advertising or public relations, who depend on ratings to show clients a return on investment in Hispanic media.
Arbitron began testing the Portable People Meter in 2000. It’s a device that one wears like a pager, which picks up encoded audio signals from radio stations. Arbitron recruits participants by phone who agree to wear the PPM wherever they go, while radio networks encode a special signal into their broadcasts that Arbitron has designed for the PPM to pick up.