America's so-called Silicon Forest is home to Intel and several other technology companies. The market is brimming with early adopters; Apple's iPad sold out locally the weekend it was available. Also known as the City of Roses for its rose-bordered streets, Portland is one of the "greenest" cities, right down to the LED holiday lights installed last year. Portland's 38 breweries also make it the micro brew capital of the U.S.

However, the media market has been anything but rosy, struggling with a high unemployment rate north of 11 percent. Recovery is expected to lag behind the rest of the U.S.

TV stations got their first Nielsen local people meter ratings in November. A month later, Arbitron flipped the switch on its portable people meter radio ratings service. True to form, the new electronic measurement services resulted in compressed ratings and even tighter races. KGW, Belo's...