Wikipedia entry for WKOX

[Sid Schweiger]

"How much of the Boston market is actually sampled?"

According to Arbitron, the in-tab sample target is 1671 meters for the Boston market.  Under their rules for PPM usage, PPM's that are not removed from their charging cradle for more than a certain amount of time are not counted (the meter can detect movemen), but if Arbitron is actually saying how many of the 1671 fall into that category, I can't find it.

"I know in many markets where PPM has been introduced, the sample has excluded some in-market but non-metro areas.  (Including, famously, about a million people on the edges of the Los Angeles market, who were excluded because they get too many out-of-market signals and the subscribers didn't want their numbers diluted.)"

Arbitron, for what are (to me) obvious reasons, won't show how the meters are distributed in each survey area, but this tells me that subscribing stations are apparently allowed to game the system, which lowers the credibility of any numbers they issue to subscribers.  Still, however, they're the only horse in this rodeo.

Sid Schweiger
IT Manager, Entercom New England
20 Guest St / 3d Floor
Brighton MA  02135-2040