Nielsen Co. Pitches Ratings Service in Wilkes Barre

RADIO ONLINE | Friday, June 11, 2010 | 4:38am CT

Nielsen is making a pitch to add Wilkes Barre-Scranton to its radio measurement service, which is launched last year in about 50 secondary markets. The Scranton Times-Tribune reports that officials from Nielsen held a demonstration of its ratings system for each of the area's radio broadcasters.

"While Nielsen officials haven't said when they would begin measuring ratings in the market, they did explain to local general managers the difference between their proposed service and that of Arbitron, which had been the lone company measuring ratings for more than four decades," said Entercom GM Ryan Flynn who oversees WILK-AM and WKRZ-FM.

Both ratings firms would employ the diary system, but Nielsen uses an address-based system. "I was very impressed (with Nielsen's presentation)," said Times-Shamrock CEO Bobby Lynett told the newspaper. "Nielson is a very reputable company and they have been measuring TV viewing for decades," Mr. Lynett said. "It seems natural to me that they would make a transition into monitoring radio habits as well."