And staying with problems in radio land, the company behind the radio industry's main ratings system, RAJAR, yesterday announced that plans to introduce an electronic monitoring system would be put back at least another two years.
While most major media buyers said that they welcomed other improvements made to RAJAR's measurement systems and that they remained confident in their stats, the announcement means the slightly erratic method where a sample of radio listeners write down what they have listened to on the radio in a diary will stay in place for some time to come. RAJAR say their tests of electronic based systems (where the sample group carry some kind of device that monitors what they are listening to) continue through a joint venture with TV ratings people Barb, but that those tests still have some way to go.
Needless to say, Kelvin Mackenzie, a constant critic of the RAJAR system while he was running sports station TalkSport, has slammed the latest announcement, even though he no longer has much of a vested interest in how radio ratings are compiled. The Telegraph quote him as saying: "RAJAR promised they'd bring in the technology, but if these guys were in charge of computers, we'd still be on a typewriter. I urge advertisers not to advertise on radio until they know what their audience is. Radio is a cosy club of executives and it's in their interests to keep the diary."