library(readr)
library(dplyr)
a_string <- read_file("nielsen_2016")
split_lines <- strsplit(a_string, "\r\n")[[1]]
split_cols  <- strsplit(split_lines, "--")
dat_frame <- ldply(split_cols)
names(dat_frame) <- c("dma", "counties")
write.csv(dat_frame, file = "dma_counties_2016.csv", row.names = F)