Arbitron Council: ‘Give Us PPM Start Dates’

Arbitron customers want to know the dates that the audience research company plans to deploy PPM in 2007 so stations can begin preparing employees for the transition from paper diaries to electronic ratings.
The Arbitron Radio Advisory Council, which represents several commercial radio customers, understands the dates may be revised, according to group chairman Bill Kelly. He said in a statement: “Earlier notification of scheduled PPM currency dates will help the industry educate the marketplace, better train its people and work cooperatively with advertisers and agencies to position radio’s value.”
The council would like stations to receive 60 days notice of PPM deployment in any market.
Arbitron has said Philadelphia is scheduled for Jan. 11 and Houston should be the same month, while New York and Los Angeles are also expected to go live with the PPM device next year.
And for those markets not going PPM by 2008, Arbitron announced diary survey dates for 2008-09 at www.arbitron.com.