Re: Expos need miracle to air in English

[Mike Thomas <nostatic@earthlink.net>]

There's one main reason that Puerto Rico is now a rated market.  A few years
back, AMFM bought a cluster of radio stations there.  Today Clear Channel owns
those stations, and I'm sure they want some numbers to sell on the street.  My
guess is that AMFM pressured Arbitron to make the whole island a market, and they
did.

Lumping the entire island as a market is not unprecedented.  Look at "Long
Island."  It's about one hundred miles wide.  Only a few stations, such as WALK,
WBLI and some of the big New York AM's, penetrate the entire metro with a
listenable signal.  The rest don't have full coverage of the island.
Technically, Arbitron should split the market in two, with Nassau County and
Suffolk County being the dividing line.  The local station lineup in Levittown
for example, is much different than it is in Hampton Bays.  However, separation
would result in two smaller, less important markets and the major broadcasting
companies who are the cash cows for Arbitron wouldn't stand for it.

Mike Thomas

Jibguy@aol.com wrote:

>   There WILL be a time that VI will be rated.  Puerto Rico was rated only
> starting several years ago.   I'm amazed though that they consider Puerto
> Rico "a market" since the island is 130 miles wide and 50 miles deep
> (north-south).  Most San Juan AM stations beam east and cannot be heard on
> the western part of the island.  And there are plenty of small town AMs on
> the western half , southern part, and even eastern part of the island which
> cannot be heard in or around San Juan.