In our first installment, we introduced you to the seven-member Portable People Meter-equipped Farkel family. In part two, we learn how they view their important roles as ratings respondents.
Frank Farkel
Frank has a half-hour commute to and from his job each day. "The PPM hears what I want to hear on a good day, and what the other members of my car pool want to hear on a not-so-good day," he told us. Ever the curious fix-it type, Frank has disassembled and reassembled the meter to try to find out how it works. "It's got a thingy in there that senses motion, so it used to be a problem when I'd forget to take it to work. The people at Arlotron (sic) find out. Fortunately I've discovered that the operation of our refrigerator provides enough vibration to fool the meter into thinking I'm wearing it, so once in a while I just leave the thing on top of the fridge and that way I don't look like a total dork who still wears a beeper. And we still get our points."
He's referring to a system implemented by Arbitron in which respondents earn points for each day they carry the meter and it records any listening. The Farkels are trying to score enough points to take a cruise to the Virgin Islands in the spring, and no one is more excited about that prospect than Frank's wife Fanny.
Fanny FarkelOn how the family was recruited: "One day this lady called and asked how many people were in our family. When I said seven, I thought she was going to have a cow! It was like she had won the lottery or something. I guess she doesn't get seven new players in one call very often."
On participating in a research study: "I've been doing these forever. I love it when companies call me for focus groups. Happens three, maybe four times a week. Last night I was at a focus group for a mouthwash, and tonight there's another one, but I won't know what it's for until I get there. I can make enough bucks doing these surveys to feed the family for a week sometimes. So this Larditron (sic) project comes up with the meters and you betcha I went for it, big time."
On the treatment by Arbitron: "Sometimes they make me nuts when they call everyday, but they're just checking up to make sure we're scoring all the points we possibly can. I suppose I should be used to their calls after the last few years. They don't like to let us seven-person households slip through their little fingers, so they're always on the phone making sure we haul the meters around. One time they told me that when we don't we cause trouble because Frank and I count for half of all the radio listeners in our age group in the whole city."
Sparkle Farkel
The oldest of the five children, Sparkle spoke to us on behalf of her siblings: "These meters are a drag to take to school. After you've brought one to show and tell, there's no joy. When the other kids see you wear it all day, they think you're recording them and they won't talk to you. But one thing my younger brother and sisters like with the meters is that they get to play the game just like the rest of us. They couldn't do that when we were filling out those diaries every other month, back in the day."
We probed further to find out just how many times the Farkels had been diary respondents too, but Sparkle could only remember the two times she participated since she turned twelve. "I figure there's a bunch more times, because the Armitron (sic) people love it when they find those big families and like it or not, they stay in touch."
Tomorrow, some final thoughts on the Farkel Arbitron household when we conclude this series.
