I received a letter from the Arbitron Ratings group

[Catherine Vincent]

My household was selected to participate in their Arbitron Radio and TV Ratings household. You receive monthly incentives (not much) for your participation. I thought I'd give it a shot. I will be interviewed this evening after work.

I have heard of Arbitron but didn't think much of it. I always thought the Nielsen ratings was the one. Do you all think this is legit. It seemed to be. I did ask the rep if I had to pay anything to participate and he said no.

What do you all think?

[ColbertWatcher]

1. Go for it!

Make sure you say you watched Bill O'Reilly's show, but shut it off due to his hate speech.

[Catherine Vincent]

9. No. I rather tell them I have never heard of Bill O'Reilly...or Sean Hannity. :)

[ColbertWatcher]

10. The idea is...

...to make it appear as though he has an audience, but is losing it.

[Renew Deal]

2. Do it

:bounce:

[Tracer]

3. A few years ago I received a Nielsen ratings book in the mail.

Not being interested in tracking my TV watching, I threw the book in the trash.

A few weeks later, someone from Nielsen call to ask why they hadn't received my book.

When I told them that I had trashed it, the woman actually started yelling at me -- at which point, I hung up.

[jobycom]

8. I blame you for American Idol.

:rofl:

[ananda]

4. Go for it.

They give you some dollars, so it could be fun.

[otohara]

5. I Forget How Much

they pay. It's not much at all - they will send you crisp dollar bills. I've done it twice and I used to work in radio, but not when I did Arbitron, some would say, I'm bad!

The first time I was able to bring the ratings up on my favorite alternative station. Second time, tried to help out Air America, but it didn't amount to much. Second time I only had 3 books.

Up to you - you have to fill out a diary, which is broken down by "day parts" radio talk for AM Drive-time, Mid-day, PM Drive-time.

Up to you.... you will count as hundreds of thousands of people in your market. (depending on the size of your city)

Radio stations live and die by the Arbitron Ratings System.

[Catherine Vincent]

7. The rep told me it used to be books that you had to fill out but he said

it's not like that anymore. They give you a box for your tv and radio which is much easier. Thanks for the info.

[LibDemAlways]

6. It's legit. Ratings are the life's blood of the

tv industry. Years ago I arranged the travel for a guy who was an independent tv ratings consultant. Little podunk affiliates all over the country would pay him big money to analyze and help improve their ratings. They take arbitron and nielsen both very seriously.

[jobycom]

11. I did the Neilsen ratings thing once.

It was funny, since I couldn't afford cable, and only got three channels, and I was a grad student with no spare time. Rarely watched anything. And my family got mad that every time we did watch something I wrote it in the book and lectured them if they didn't.

But it was fun. Nielsen probably threw the book away when they got it back, though. It was almost blank.

[AngryOldDem]

13. We did it a couple of times....

...and what a power trip. Making TV decisions for millions of Americans. :D

[AngryOldDem]

12. I did it once several years ago.

It was for radio. You keep a log of what you listen to for about a week and then mail it back in. Easy way to make a few -- and I mean a few, as in a couple of -- bucks.

Arbitron was for radio only, Neilsen was for TV. I dunno if Arbitron also does TV now. Yes, it's legit.

[brooklynite]

14. Abitron is a legit rater of TV/radio...

just not as big a famous as Nielsen.

http://arbitron.com/home/content.stm

[AndyTiedye]

16. I Think Arbitron is the Big one for Radio

[tech3149]

15. Arbitron is the "gold standard" for radio

The stations income from advertising is based on the size and demographic of the audience. As a DU'r, I would suggest that you participate. I did the Nielsen deal last year and I'm sure I was the outlier. Nielsen is pretty much teevee and I don't really watch it anymore with the exception of the Food channel and old movies.

Go for it and be honest, it's time the unheard majority have some influence in our media choices.

[Howler]

17. My husband and I participated in ....

The Arbitron radio ratings a few years back.It's legit. I say Go for it!