Arbitron

Media research firm Arbitron Inc. said yesterday that it is relocating its corporate headquarters from New York City to Columbia, where most of its employees work. Michael Skarzynski, Arbitron's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that he and other executives should live and work in Columbia because it is where most of the company's research is done. "He wanted to be where the action is, where the people who will execute the decisions are," said Thom Mocarsky, an Arbitron spokesman.

Shareholders of Arbitron Inc. overwhelmingly approved the sale of the Columbia-based company to Nielsen Holdings N.V. during a special stockholders meeting Tuesday. Nielsen, the TV ratings company, announced late last year that it would pay $1.26 billion in cash for Arbitron, which measures radio audiences. Arbitron spokesman Thom Mocarsky said the deal still needs approval from the Federal Trade Commission. Company officials, though, expect the sale to close by the end of the third quarter.

The Arbitron Co., the nation's leading radio ratings consultant, is staking part of its growth and profitability on a new division that will survey which information and entertainment technologies people prefer.The company is investing millions of dollars in Arbitron NewMedia, based in Columbia. It will collect in-depth information about consumers' use of satellite television, on-line computer services, interactive television services and other new technologies.The move comes about a year after Arbitron shut down its TV ratings business and laid off more than 400 people in Maryland.

The company that helps TV networks determine what shows get canceled or live for another season is buying the Columbia-based company that helps radio stations decide whether to change formats. Nielsen Holdings of TV ratings fame announced Tuesday that it agreed to pay $1.26 billion in cash for Arbitron Inc., the company that measures radio audiences. The deal brings together the largest audience research firms for two of the largest entertainment media. It gives Nielsen entry to the radio market and allows Arbitron, which largely operates in North America, to piggyback on Nielsen's global reach.

The Arbitron Co., the radio-ratings company, plans to move its headquarters to Columbia next year -- a boost to the Howard County economy and to the beleaguered Baltimore-Washington office market.The company will move 400 employees from four other sites in Laurel and Beltsville to 127,000 square feet of office space in the Patuxent Woods Business Park. The lease would be one of the largest private-sector deals in the Baltimore area in years.The 15-year-lease is worth more than $20 million, according to Cole Schnorf, a Manekin Corp.

Arbitron Corp. has scotched what could have been one of the biggest real estate deals of the year, choosing not to move to the Airport Square office complex in Linthicum and instead to stay for at least two more years at three buildings in Prince George's County.The decision by the Manhattan-based company sets the stage for another round of competition over Arbitron and its 1,200 local employees in the next 18 months, said Prince George's Economic Development Corp. President Dennis C. Murphy.

If George Orwell worked for Arbitron Ratings Co., he'd love ScanAmerica.Slated to appear in the Baltimore area in three months, the Big Brother-like system tells Arbitron what television programs a household watches, who is watching and what grocery products are bought, Pierre R. Megroz said yesterday.ScanAmerica first debuted in -- you guessed it -- 1984, in the Denver television market. It came to Pittsburgh, Phoenix and St. Louis last year. Kansas City, Mo., and 500 of the Baltimore area's 940,000 television viewing households are scheduled to get it next year.

The first peek at the Arbitron November ratings book shows one significant difference from the numbers released by Nielsen over the weekend as the 11 o'clock news on Channel 13 (WJZ) drops considerably while Channel 11 (WBAL) moves into a strong second place in the late news race.The numbers show WJZ with an 11 rating and 29 share at 11 p.m., WBAL with a 9 rating and 22 share and Channel 2 (WMAR) close behind with an 8 rating, 20 share.In the Nielsen book, Channel 13 had a 14 rating at 11 p.m., doubling the 7 ratings recorded by both Channel 11 and Channel 2. In Arbitron, Channel 11 also had a noticeable lead with its noon news over Channel 13 -- a 9 rating compared to a 7 -- though both were virtually tied in Nielsen.

The media research firm Arbitron Inc. said Tuesday that it is slashing 10 percent of its work force and cutting other expenses as new management refocuses the business and tries to deal with the weak economy. Under the plan, 110 full-time positions, including 80 in the Baltimore area, would be eliminated, company spokesman Thom Mocarsky said in phone interview. About 71 percent, or 767, of the company's 1,084 full-time employees work in Columbia, where the company moved its headquarters this month.

The Arbitron Co. waved the white flag yesterday, saying it would close its money-losing television ratings business, and lay off 733 people -- 413 of them in the company's Laurel and Beltsville operations.The move left the television industry with only one major provider of information on who watches what programs -- A. C. Nielsen. The ratings are used by advertisers to determine how they should spend approximately $15 billion devoted to television spots each year.New York-based Arbitron would retain 407 workers in Maryland, and another 60 employees in other states to service the continuing radio-station ratings business, Executive Vice President Marshall L. Snyder said.

The chief executive of media research firm Arbitron Inc. has resigned amid allegations that he provided false testimony to a congressional committee. The Columbia-based company said in a statement this week that Michael P. Skarzynski resigned because he had violated a company policy in a matter "entirely unrelated" to financial performance. U.S. Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said in a statement that Skarzynski might have provided false testimony during a December hearing about whether Arbitron's people meter would silence minority radio stations.

The media research firm Arbitron Inc. said Tuesday that it is slashing 10 percent of its work force and cutting other expenses as new management refocuses the business and tries to deal with the weak economy. Under the plan, 110 full-time positions, including 80 in the Baltimore area, would be eliminated, company spokesman Thom Mocarsky said in phone interview. About 71 percent, or 767, of the company's 1,084 full-time employees work in Columbia, where the company moved its headquarters this month.

Media research firm Arbitron Inc. said yesterday that it is relocating its corporate headquarters from New York City to Columbia, where most of its employees work. Michael Skarzynski, Arbitron's president and chief executive officer, said in a statement that he and other executives should live and work in Columbia because it is where most of the company's research is done. "He wanted to be where the action is, where the people who will execute the decisions are," said Thom Mocarsky, an Arbitron spokesman.

This week's version of a light bulb joke: How many sports media columnists does it take to screw up a report on radio ratings? Answer: See picture above. Last week, I said Ravens regular-season games on WBAL (1090 AM) and 98 Rock (WIYY/97.9 FM) in 2006 drew more listeners than the games on JACKfm (WQSR/102.7 FM) and ESPN Radio 1300 (WJFK/1300 AM) in 2005. Which is true. But that may be all I got right. According to numbers compiled by Arbitron, the radio ratings service, WBAL/98 Rock averaged 166,300 Baltimore-area listeners 18 and older for each game.

As one of the nation's leading marketing and media research firms begins to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange, it is also expanding its Howard County presence into the Gateway office park. Arbitron Inc., best known for its measurement of local radio ratings, has moved into a 20,000- square-foot office on Alexander Bell Drive. The company also has a two-building campus off Snowden River Parkway. The expansion was precipitated by the March 30 reverse spinoff from its parent company Ceridian Corp.

Maybe the folks at what used to be V-103 knew something when they ceded Baltimore's urban radio market to their downtown rivals at 92-Q.WERQ-FM (92.3) has vaulted back to the top of Baltimore's radio heap, according to Arbitron ratings released last week for April-June 1997. And it did so in spectacular fashion, besting its closest competitor (WBAL-AM) by 2.5 share points, or roughly 9,000 listeners.WXYV, which had been battling 92-Q for the urban market, threw in the towel late last month, switching formats from Urban Contemporary to Contemporary Hit Radio, a '90s version of Top 40. The station did not make the top-10 list this go-round, the first time that's happened in recent memory.

As one of the nation's leading marketing and media research firms begins to trade its stock on the New York Stock Exchange, it is also expanding its Howard County presence into the Gateway office park. Arbitron Inc., best known for its measurement of local radio ratings, has moved into a 20,000- square-foot office on Alexander Bell Drive. The company also has a two-building campus off Snowden River Parkway. The expansion was precipitated by the March 30 reverse spinoff from its parent company Ceridian Corp.

Baltimore's longest-running game of musical chairs continues, as WBAL-AM (1090) has nudged WERQ-FM (92.3) back to second place among the city's most listened-to radio stations.Arbitron ratings for Winter '97 place WBAL squarely atop the leader board, with an audience share of 8.5. That translates to roughly 32,200 listeners in an average quarter-hour.WERQ, which last quarter ended a years-long monopoly of the top two positions by WBAL and WPOC-FM (93.1), finished second this go-round with an 8.0 share, roughly 30,100 listeners in an average quarter-hour.