Rajar, the radio audience measurement body funded by the BBC and commercial radio, has been fiercely criticised for abandoning its £3.5 million trial of an electronic alternative to its diary-based ratings system.

The move to shun electronic meters in favour of a new online survey system has come as a shock, with hopes that personal meter testing would be a more accurate system for recording listener numbers. InFebruary, Rajar had to reissue listening figures for the fourth quarter of last year after realising that data published for hundreds of stations was incorrect.

The body has faced criticism from some industry figures, including Kelvin MacKenzie, the former owner of TalkSport, who believed that an electronic system would be more accurate than a diary. Yesterday Mr MacKenzie called the move “an absolutely shocking decision”, adding that the television industry had used an electronic meter system successfully for some years. He said that Rajar officials should hang their heads in shame for not making meters work: “Are they saying it is beyond the radio industry to do what is done in television?”

Sally de la Bedoyere, managing director of Rajar, admitted that after six years of research personal meter testing had some flaws, highlighting that people are often too busy to use the devices at breakfast time. The popularity of podcasting and using mobile phones for radio listening meant that a new solution was needed.

Rajar said that the move had followed a unanimous decision by the Rajar board to draw a line under its investment in personal meter testing and to investigate the introduction of a new online digital survey.

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