This bulletin provides radio stations and other users of Arbitron services with information regarding Summer 2006 survey specification changes and key dates.

Market Changes

Scarborough Markets Added
Three Standard markets are added to the Scarborough service effective with Release 2 of 2006.  These markets are discontinuing RetailDirect^® service effective with the Summer 2006 survey:

MARKET Bakersfield Chattanooga Little Rock

Response Rate and Sample Representation Initiatives

Consent Promised Incentive Extended to Additional Market
Effective with the Summer 2006 survey, the “Consent Promised Incentive” initiative will be extended to five additional markets. Under this initiative, all households that contain at least one household member who is Black, Hispanic or a male 18-34 years old in these markets will also receive a special post-placement “thank-you” premium. 

Research Enhancement

Statement Added to the Diary
Effective with the Summer 2006 survey, additional text is added to the inside back cover of the diary alerting respondents that they may be contacted for future studies. The new text reads:

“From time to time, we may recontact people for special studies, but returning this diary does not commit you to participate in these studies.”

Network Update

Effective Summer 2005, Talk Radio Network has been added to the list of network affiliations reported on the Station Information page of Arbitron Radio Market Reports.

Total Line Reporting

Effective with the Winter 2006 survey, Arbitron made an important change in the reporting of audience estimates for 100-percent-simulcast radio stations.

Overview
Effective with the Winter 2006 survey, Arbitron reports 100-percent-simulcast stations through a single estimate line in all applications and reports.

Arbitron’s new simulcast policy:

• Is available to stations that simulcast all content, including all commercials, 100 percent of the time the stations are on the air.

• Accommodates partnerships of two or more radio stations in a simulcast.

• Reports the estimates for simulcast partnerships through a single estimate line in all Arbitron local market reporting services for simulcast partnerships that request Total Line Reporting.

• Allows the simulcast combo to select the station (from among the simulcast partners) under whose call letters the combo’s combined listening will be reported.

Individual estimates for radio stations that are a part of a simulcast combo that elects Total Line Reporting are no longer accessible through any of Arbitron’s applications or reports.

This new simulcast reporting policy completely replaces Arbitron’s previous simulcasting policies. The revised policy provides consistency in the reporting of audience estimates for simulcast radio stations across all Arbitron local reporting services and eliminates the two-station limit on simulcast partnerships.

Simulcast partnerships are identified on the "Station Information" and "Special Notices" pages of the Radio Market Report, and on a special resource page on the Arbitron Web site that has information on all simulcast radio stations. The special resource page can be accessed at 
http://www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/stationinformation/total_line.htm

Reporting Estimates for Simulcast Combos
Audience estimates for simulcast combos that meet Minimum Reporting Standards (MRS) are reported with the call letters of the combo’s primary station (as designated by the combo). MRS are applied to the combined estimates. Stations must simulcast for all 12 weeks of a quarterly survey period to be eligible for Total Line Reporting.

The secondary stations that are a part of a simulcast combo are not included in the lineup in any of Arbitron’s reporting services, and audience estimates for these individual radio stations are not available in any application or report.

Simulcast stations are noted on the "Station Information" and "Special Notices" pages of the Radio Market Report. No special footnote or flag denotes simulcast combos on audience estimate pages or reports.

The simulcast resource page on the Arbitron Web site:

• Lists simulcast combos that are eligible for, and have requested, Total Line Reporting.
• Identifies the primary station in each simulcast combo.
• Identifies the primary station’s home Metro and (if applicable) the primary station’s home DMA^®.

Reporting Prior Survey Estimates for Simulcast Combos
The historical information used for trend reports and multibook average estimates reflects the audience estimates originally published for the combo’s primary station. During the initial survey for which a combo receives Total Line Reporting, multibook averages for the combo will reflect listening to all of the partner stations during the current survey, averaged with prior-survey listening to only the primary station. 

Maximi$er^® and Media Professional^® subscribers can create a multibook average reflecting listening to all the partner stations by building a combo in any of the prior surveys and selecting that combo for each survey in the multibook period.

When a simulcast combo stops simulcasting and the stations return to independent broadcasting, the individual secondary stations will not have any historical data associated with them for the surveys during which they were simulcast.

A list of frequently asked questions relating to Total Line Reporting is available at
www.arbitron.com/radio_stations/TLR_FAQ.asp. In addition, inquiries may be addressed to Dave Willinski at Arbitron in Columbia, MD, by calling (410) 312-8396 or via e-mail at dave.willinski@arbitron.com. Please include your name and phone number with any e-mail inquiries.

Personal Race/Ethnicity

Effective with the Winter 2006 survey, Arbitron began classifying the race and ethnicity of diarykeepers based on the individual diarykeeper’s answer to a new question that was added to the diary.

Race and ethnicity are used as weighting criteria in the 179 Arbitron radio Metros that have Black and/or Hispanic controls and are also the basis for ethnic composition audience estimates.

Historically, Arbitron classified diarykeepers as Black or Hispanic based on the response to a household-level question. Classifying race and ethnicity of diarykeepers based on the individual diarykeeper’s response to race and ethnicity questions, instead of a household response, is more appropriate because of the realities of mixed-race and mixed-ethnicity households.

Language Usage Weighting

Effective with the Winter 2006 survey, Arbitron implemented Language Usage Weighting in the Hispanic-controlled Metros listed below. This means that in addition to weighting based on sex/age, county and race (where applicable), in these markets, language usage among Hispanics is an additional weighting factor.

Nielsen Media Research is providing the Hispanic population universe estimates for language dominance to be used for weighting, based on the company’s two-year rolling Hispanic-language enumeration survey.
 
Subscribers using Maximi$er/Media Professional data have the ability to perform language breakouts using the current two-way split (Spanish dominant and English dominant). Plans are under way to expand the options in 2006.

Below is a list of the markets weighted for language usage.

Key Dates

Station Information Updates During the Summer 2006 Survey

Please remember to notify Arbitron in writing immediately of any call letter, Station Name, or other facility changes that occur at your station during the survey (June 29 – Sept 20).

Station updates that should be forwarded to Arbitron include:

* Diary edit information is not retroactive and becomes effective upon our receipt.
** Spring times used for Phase 1.

Please address updates to:

Address:
Radio Station Relations
Arbitron Inc.
9705 Patuxent Woods Drive
Columbia, MD 21046-1572
Attention:  Station Information

Fax:  (410) 312-8619

Station information updates will be accepted through Sept 20. All updates will be acknowledged by letter or postcard. If you do not receive an update confirmation postcard, please contact Radio Station Relations at (410) 312-8062.

Station Information Profiles on file with Arbitron for the Summer 2006 survey can be reviewed online at www.ArbitronRadio.com effective with the start of the Summer 2006 survey. Click on the "Station Information Profiles" link, and enter the call letters of the station you want to review.

The policy and procedure amendment(s) set forth in this bulletin are hereby incorporated by reference into and deemed to amend and supersede in pertinent part the most recent Description of Methodology as published in the Local Radio Market Report or as otherwise furnished to subscribers.

For more detailed information on the topics in this bulletin, including the specific markets affected by Arbitron's ongoing efforts to improve sample quality, please contact your local Arbitron sales representative.

Arbitrends^SM, Maximi$er^®, Media Professional^® and RetailDirect^® are marks of Arbitron Inc. DMA^® is a registered service mark of Nielsen Media Research, Inc., and is used pursuant to a license from Nielsen Media Research, Inc.