BEVERLY HILLS, CA — While Infinity President/COO Joel Hollander was not physically present at the June 25 State of the Industry session at R&R Convention 2004, his words reverberated throughout the International Ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Just 24 hours after an announcement by Hollander that Infinity would not be renewing its contract with Arbitron, the top executive of Viacom’s radio arm blasted the ratings company and suggested that other radio operators “dump” Arbitron.

Speaking via telephone from New York, Hollander said his company decided to be “aggressive” in its Arbitron decision. He said that Infinity thought about its move for some time before making the change last week instead of waiting until the final day of the contract’s term, which was June 30.

Radio One COO Mary Catherine Sneed reacted strongly to Infinity’s move, telling Hollander, “Dude, you’re my hero!” When asked about the industry coming together to fight for important issues, Hollander suggested that other companies join his in dumping Arbitron. “We think there’s a little arrogance in this negotiation and thought we’d change the paradigm a little bit,” Hollander said. “It’s not going to be their way or the highway.”

However, he implied that a new deal with Arbitron could be reached in the near future. “We would love to be involved with the Portable People Meter,” Hollander said. “We don’t want to be the rebel. We want to help the radio industry. There are lots of things out there we can do, and I think it’s time to look at other existing services or to try something new.”

When Sneed first heard of Infinity’s decision not to renew its contract with Arbitron, she thought that it might put the PPM in jeopardy. However, she told the audience that pricing by Arbitron remains a key area of concern for radio operators. “How much more is it going to cost us?” she asked of the PPM’s rollout in the nation’s top markets. “Arbitron has given no range. Is it 10%? Is it 15%?”

Hollander added that, in his view, it will take years to roll out the PPM and use the methodology across all the top markets. “I would like to see more information from Arbitron before we go into that,” said Hollander, “but at the same time not get gouged.”

Meanwhile, Arbitron Radio Sr. VP/GM Scott Musgrave told R&R at a PPM session earlier that morning that, despite Infinity’s move and the withheld participation of both Radio One and Cox Radio, Arbitron is still on track with its Houston market test. VP/Programming Services Bob Michaels also confirmed that the PPM probably won’t be coming to smaller markets in the near future because “it’s just too expensive.”

Among the other topics discussed by State of the Industry session panelists was Clear Channel’s decision last week to end weekly pacings. While weekly pacings were good for internal use, at least one executive believed they can cause companies to make “knee-jerk” reactions. “I think it’s an anxiety producer, for the most part,” Jefferson-Pilot President/Radio Division Clarke Brown said.

Hollander expressed similar feelings, saying, “It’s a good internal tool, but it puts too much info out there in the investment community.” Hollander added that the industry “would have been better off if everybody was on the same page” with pacings, as each individual operator does pacings in a different way.

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