Note: The following is part three of our three-part series profiling a household participating in a PPM survey in an undisclosed major market. (See part one. See part two.)We'd be remiss if we didn't spend some of our interview time with the Farkels' neighbor, Ferd Berfel. Ferd appears to spend many hours at the Farkel home, particularly when husband and father Frank is working and Fanny needs assistance with household needs.
Seeing how the five Farkel children bear an uncanny resemblance to Berfel, we asked him to describe the relationship he has with the family: "I'm their good friend and trusted neighbor. The kids all want to be like me for some reason, but don't get any funny ideas."
His observations of the Farkels as meter carriers: "If it wasn't this they'd be doing some other survey and playing another contest, so what the hell," he told us. "Never saw a group of people so competitive with each other. But I have to admit, sometimes I get sucked into carrying one of these meters in case one of the kids forgets to take it along. When they see supposedly an eight-year-old listening for hours to the classic country station, that's probably really me."
They're technologically savvy too, Berfel says: "They do know their way around gadgets. Last election, they even texted their votes to Ryan Seacrest."
As we leave the Farkel family (and friend) behind, we hope you've found this brief look into the lives of an Arbitron Portable People Meter family insightful and educational. Whether this is truly representative of all PPM households may be questionable, but hey...you try finding a seven-member family willing to become a PPM household for multiple months at a time and talk to reporters about it!
