» The Gloves Are Off: No, we're not going to review this past weekend's sparring between the presidential contenders, but we do have the latest in the ongoing battle over Arbitron's deployment of PPM. Last Friday, NY State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he'd sue the ratings company on behalf a group of Hispanic and Urban broadcasters if Arbitron rolled out this week's planned commercialization of Portable People Meter numbers. That was met with a double-barreled announcement blast from Arbitron that not only was the company going "live" with PPM in eight local markets effective today, but also that the company has filed its own lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, for a "declaratory judgment and injunctive relief against the Attorney General for the State of New York to prevent any attempt to restrain Arbitron's publication of its Portable People Meter listening estimates." Arbitron says any restraint on publicizing PPM audience numbers would have "an adverse impact on the radio broadcast industry and advertising industries as a whole" and would cause "irreparable harm" to Arbitron's business."

» But Wait, There's More! Faster than you can say "Portable People Meter," Arbitron fired off another announcement today headlined, "Urban and Spanish-Language Radio Stations Earn Top Rankings In New PPM Ratings." In it, Arbitron cites number one 25-54 shares for Inner City-owned WBLS/New York's Steve Harvey morning show in the September PPM survey month, tying the station in that demo with CBS Radio all-newser WINS. Meanwhile, in Chicago Univision-owned Mexican Regional WOJO posted a number one 18-34 ranking for it's morning drive period, hosted by Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo. In Riverside-San Bernardino Arbitron reports that Entravision Spanish Adult Hits KLYY is the number one 25-54 station in the SoCal market for the September survey month, Monday-Sunday (6am-midnight). The company also notes that the top four 18-34 AQH stations (Mon-Sun, 6am-midnight) in the just-released San Francisco PPM report are (in order), Rhythmic CHR KMEL, Mexican Regional KSOL, Rhythmic CHR KYLD and Mexican Regional KRZZ.

» Phil Boyce: "PPM's Good For WABC: The 13-plus year PD at Citadel's New York City flagship checks in to tell NTS Aircheck Today that he's pleased with the News/Talker's first "currency" PPM results. Boyce says WABC is tied for number three in the market (with WCBS-FM) and that the overall 5.0 AQH the station posted in the September PPM survey, "is the highest share we've ever had as a News/Talk station as far back as I can see." Boyce reports that WABC is also number one in Time Spent Listening in the first official PPM monthly survey, and also the #1 AM station in NYC, something he says he's seen for many months in a row during PPM's pre-currency period. He says that bodes well, in his opinion, for high-cuming News/Talk stations that help their hosts learn how to maximize their TSL under the new PPM electronic audience measurement system.

» Salem Takes Care Of Biz In South Florida: The Camarillo, CA-based broadcaster has debuted business and financial news WZAB "The Biz")/Miami. The new outlet joins Salem/Miami clustermates Christian Talk WMCU and News/Talk WKAT. "Encouraged by the success of our business-formatted KDOW in San Francisco, we identified Miami as another market where we expect this increasingly popular format to be successful," said Salem Radio President Joe Davis. "Everyone is concerned about their jobs, their money and their future. This dynamic body of timely content speaks to those concerns and provides a huge opportunity for our advertisers and for the Miami metro."

» Cape Girardeu Gets Limbaugh Court House: The new federal courthouse in the Missouri hometown of Premiere Radio Networks talk host Rush Limbaugh will be dedicated today (10/6) in the name of Rush Hudson Limbaugh Sr., one of the most prominent attorneys in the region who spent nearly 80 years heading the local law firm that bears his name until his death in 1996 at age 104. The senior Limbaugh's son, retired District Judge Stephen Limbaugh, Sr., is set to speak at today's building naming ceremony that's being attended by a reported 60+ members of the Limbaugh family including the conservative Talk radio icon who took the day off from his "golden EIB microphone" today to join the midwest family reunion.

We're All Here For Ginny! When the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce held a luncheon last week to honor the group's new chairman, Hubbard Radio President Ginny Morris, the group invited ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent and This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos to speak and offer his insights on this year's presidential campaign. Striking a classic Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons album cover pose are (l-r); ABC News Radio VP/GM Steve Jones, KSTP/Minneapolis PD Steve Konrad, Stephanopoulos, and KSTP VP/GM Todd Fisher.