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WNUA/Chicago recently dropped Smooth Jazz for a Spanish AC format. This Spanish language format (a variety and a number of styles) was extremely hot in the USA up until the arrival of The People Meter. When The People Meter arrived, there were those that felt Arbitron’s People Meter did not show positive listening for Spanish radio and they bailed on the format. The failure that these broadcasters made is that they did not stop and ask themselves, “does Arbitron have this figured out yet?”
The fine folks at Arbitron themselves acknowledged that they were working through the process and the reason they’ve not yet made the PPM “currency” in a number of markets was that they were still fighting bugs and working through sampling problems. The fact is now PPM is starting to capture the African American listening and Spanish listening that has been missed. This has broadcasters reconsidering their rush away from Spanish radio and relooking at the opportunity that exists before them.
Spanish listeners utilize the radio more than the average non-ethnic listener. Spanish listeners have something that draws them together and is a unique commonality among them which is the language. This unique difference makes Spanish radio akin to being the information center for an entire population. Broadcasters who have Spanish stations should make them all encompassing so that their cume is large and they can overcome Arbitron’s wobbles.
The challenge remains in finding non-citizen listeners. You do not have to be a citizen of the United States to participate in an Arbiton radio rating survey. You only have to live in the USA. Arbitron does not judge if someone is a citizen or not, nor is their information shared with the department of immigration.
The challenge that the broadcasters have is how do you convince an individual that it is okay for them, as an illegal alien to carry a small device that tracks your listening habits and can pinpoint your whereabouts? Arbitron appears to be overcoming that challenge by paying more money to its respondents. Regardless, if Arbitron is able to work the bugs out of The People Meter, we’ll see programming find a “new normal” and programmers will adapt and adjust to build ratings.. That is to say that we can expect to see Arbitron do a better job of sampling with African American listeners and with Spanish language listeners. I happen to think that Arbitron is going to get it right.
If you gave up on Spanish radio, you did so too soon. Spanish radio is back!
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