The tornado in Birmingham seems to have wreaked a little havoc on Arbitron's plans to rate the number 57 market. Radio Ink spoke with several of the stations in the market about the ratings and one GM said "this is a big deal, "I don't care what Arbitron says. They were 251 diaries short in Phase one of the Spring Book which only included one day of the storm. Based on that number if they don't have a substantial improvement before the last two phases are completed, we are looking at being off by over 600 diaries. We have a total of 2060 needed to hit the target for the book. Keep in mind we probably have even fewer diary returns due to the loss of homes in the storm." Arbitron's first phase ended on the actual day of storm, April 27th. Phase two is expected to arrive one week from tomorrow according to another GM in the market. Around the time of the tornado Arbitron notified stations in the market they would be monitoring the situation. Since then nothing else has been made public about the diary situation. Arbitron did not respond to a request for a comment for this story. This is certainly a big deal for all the stations in the market. Birmingham generates approximately $45 million in revenue for the radio stations in that city. As everyone knows Aribtron is the only ratings service agencies have to rely on. And, it's clear to everyone that during the storm radio was the go-to medium for days if not weeks. The expectation is that ratings should reflect that.Add a Comment Send This Story To A Friend
