Here's something you might be interested in.
In the early 90s, I worked at Rock 102 (which is now Rock 105.3). One of our DJs confided in me that they were filling out a few different Arbitron diaries. In radio, these are used to tell the ratings. And, we were always told it was illegal for us to do that, and could cost a DJ their broadcasting license.
Recently, a DJ was fired from a sports station. This was the same day the station’s corporate owner issued a memo stating three Arbitron diaries came from the home of a local media member.
The memo said that the “household in question has been directly linked to the household of an on-air personality [of ours]”.
This DJ used to work at a radio station I worked at briefly a few years back. He's an amazing radio host. Quick witted and always has interesting stories.
Arbitron did not identify the household, but said it would release revised ratings for two past “Arbitrends” ratings periods covering May-July and June-August. The radio station had shown improvements during those trends.
When Arbitron people call me and would ask if I, or anyone in my family, worked in the media, I always said “yes.” And they would tell me I couldn’t be used.
I called the DJ that told me they filled out those diaries in the early 90s. They wanted to remain anonymous, but said “It’s totally illegal, and I don’t want to say my name because it will give credence to every schmuck DJ that I ever out-numbered. Even though it was only one ratings book. One ratings’ period doesn’t make a DJ, let alone one book. It counts for a lot of people. I don’t know the stats, but maybe even up to 10,000. If 10 books in a row prove your shift has more than 10 times the listeners than the rest of your station, or your competitors…and then have those same ratings numbers immediately follow you when you change shifts. That is the only thing that means anything in this current Arbitron system. And then the suits can still fire your ass for no reason. The dude is obviously a rule breaker, thus ‘Cheap’ Channel most likely banished him for something totally unrelated. Give them a reason and they’ll jump. Hell, with me, they had every reason not to fire me, and they still did. This was just prior to Clear Channels monopolization of radio. You can thank Bush for the lovely de-regulation laws for that, and the demise of all radio with any integrity. And why should they give a crap about ratings, since they own all the signals? Their management is so completely without vision.”
I called the guy that was fired and he said, “I’m actually waiting for my attorney to call me back right now. I’m not really allowed to comment. But I’ve been denying this. I will say…they’ve never even showed me proof! I’ve never even seen a F@&%ing radio diary! I just can’t figure it out. And, they’re not even honoring my contract, which expires in December anyway.”
In the early 90s, I worked at Rock 102 (which is now Rock 105.3). One of our DJs confided in me that they were filling out a few different Arbitron diaries. In radio, these are used to tell the ratings. And, we were always told it was illegal for us to do that, and could cost a DJ their broadcasting license.
Recently, a DJ was fired from a sports station. This was the same day the station’s corporate owner issued a memo stating three Arbitron diaries came from the home of a local media member.
The memo said that the “household in question has been directly linked to the household of an on-air personality [of ours]”.
This DJ used to work at a radio station I worked at briefly a few years back. He's an amazing radio host. Quick witted and always has interesting stories.
Arbitron did not identify the household, but said it would release revised ratings for two past “Arbitrends” ratings periods covering May-July and June-August. The radio station had shown improvements during those trends.
When Arbitron people call me and would ask if I, or anyone in my family, worked in the media, I always said “yes.” And they would tell me I couldn’t be used.
I called the DJ that told me they filled out those diaries in the early 90s. They wanted to remain anonymous, but said “It’s totally illegal, and I don’t want to say my name because it will give credence to every schmuck DJ that I ever out-numbered. Even though it was only one ratings book. One ratings’ period doesn’t make a DJ, let alone one book. It counts for a lot of people. I don’t know the stats, but maybe even up to 10,000. If 10 books in a row prove your shift has more than 10 times the listeners than the rest of your station, or your competitors…and then have those same ratings numbers immediately follow you when you change shifts. That is the only thing that means anything in this current Arbitron system. And then the suits can still fire your ass for no reason. The dude is obviously a rule breaker, thus ‘Cheap’ Channel most likely banished him for something totally unrelated. Give them a reason and they’ll jump. Hell, with me, they had every reason not to fire me, and they still did. This was just prior to Clear Channels monopolization of radio. You can thank Bush for the lovely de-regulation laws for that, and the demise of all radio with any integrity. And why should they give a crap about ratings, since they own all the signals? Their management is so completely without vision.”
I called the guy that was fired and he said, “I’m actually waiting for my attorney to call me back right now. I’m not really allowed to comment. But I’ve been denying this. I will say…they’ve never even showed me proof! I’ve never even seen a F@&%ing radio diary! I just can’t figure it out. And, they’re not even honoring my contract, which expires in December anyway.”