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New York’s WPAT 93.1, a Spanish-language adult contemporary radio station, was ranked No. 7 in Arbitron’s summer ratings, but plummeted to No. 19 in October when measured using the PPM. Sister station WSKQ 97.9 also dropped, from No. 4 to No. 7.
Other stations geared toward minority listeners also saw steep declines. Perhaps most notably, urban adult contemporary station WBLS 107.5 dropped from No. 1 to No. 12, according to The New York Times.
No format changes were made, says the general manager of the WPAT and WSKQ; the decline would seem to stem from the fact that they are being measured via the new PPM rather than the old paper diary method.
Arbitron senior vp of press and investor relations Thom Mocarsky says the declines are due to the fact that the PPM offers more precise measurements. It may also be true that a greater number of people are listening to more stations. Paper diaries showed that the average African American person in New York listens to radio 13.7 times a month. The PPM shows that average number to be 20.4.
“Your total time with radio is being divided among more stations and more occasions,” and as a result, each radio station’s share becomes smaller, Mocarsky says.
Still, Arbitron has agreed to have an independent board review the system in New York.
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