» Cuomo Sues Arbitron: Apparently crime is pretty much under control in the Empire State. New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is suing Arbitron accusing the ratings company of deceptive claims that its PPM audience measurement system is valid, fair and representative of diverse radio markets. Cuomo wants Arbitron to cease what his office termed deceptive and illegal practices in use and marketing of PPM in the New York market and also wants the ratings firm to pay restitution to minority broadcasters he says have lost revenues due to PPM. When contacted by NTS Aircheck Today Arbitron officials had no response to the latest action in the ongoing dispute.

» "Are We Really Arguing That Diaries Are Better? That's what hear2.0 president Mark Ramsey asks in this week's issue of NTS Aircheck Weekly (delivered to your inbox earlier today). "It's clear that the people who are the most opposed to PPM are those who perform proportionately worse in this methodology compared to the diary-base one," he says. "This is a case of the interests of the radio industry and its advertisers being hijacked by a small number of selfish parties who don't like PPM because PPM doesn't like them as much as diaries do. Pure and simple." Former broadcaster and industry journalist turned UCLA professor and online blogger Jerry Del Colliano says killing PPM is a good way for broadcasters to "keep radio in the 1970s." He adds the brouhaha over transitioning to electronic audience measurement is proof that, "radio executives have found yet another way to grasp defeat from the jaws of victory."

» Obama Backs Phillies In NLCS: Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama told WPHT/Philadelphia morning host Michael Smerconish today that he's rooting for the Phil's to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series this weekend because his campaign manager is a "huge Phillies fan" and because both Chicago baseball teams, the Cubs and the White Sox, have been eliminated. On a more serious note, asked his position on the case of Mumia Abu Jamal who was convicted of killing two Philadelphia police officers in 1981, Obama told Smerconish he has not studied the details of the case but said, "Let me just lay out a very clear principle: In my mind, if someone killed a police officer, they deserve the death penalty or life in prison." You can hear a podcast of Smerconish's live interview with Obama HERE.

» Press Mostly Fair On Candidate Coverage: The Pew Research Center For the People and the Press has released a study finding that a majority of the American public think the press has been fair overall to Republican presidential nominee John McCain and Democratic ticket Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but only four-in-ten think the media has given Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin a fair shake. Naturally Republicans surveyed overwhelmingly say the press has been too hard on Palin, while only one-in-five Democrats agree with that premise. However among independent voters, Pew found that 41% feel the press has not treated Palin fairly vs. 36% who feel she has been. For those News/Talk programmers and consultants wondering about the public's interest in the intense fight for the White House this year, fully 57% of those surveyed by Pew said they are following news about the election "very" closely, while an additional 31% said they were following the campaigns "fairly" closely. You can read the full report HERE

» Hurricane Ike Still Impacting Houston Ratings: Broadcasters in H-Town learned yesterday that Arbitron will release September 2008 PPM estimates for the market on Monday (10/13). The Houston-Galveston September estimates will be based on the first three weeks of the September survey (August 21-September 10). September Week 4 (September 11-September 17) data will not be published. Arbitron says plans to resume releasing Houston-Galveston PPM Weekly data are still undetermined.