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Back in... Five?

C

ChannelFlipper

Was listening to KLOS over the weekend, and heard the lady DJ say at the beginning of a stopset "Have some G 'n R lined up when we're back in five". I thought to myself, "Whoa, doesn't that violate some sort of rule that says you never tell listeners they are in for a lot of commercials?"

I know more than a few listeners must have done the same thing I did which was to channel flip immediately, and I bet of those that did, most were like me and never found their way back that day. I also know if I was the station manager, this would border on being a fireable offense. Listeners are hard enough to get without the DJ chasing them off. I remember Howard Stern on KLSX sometimes had crazy stopsets that lasted over 10 minutes, but he never said how long they would be.

In the meantime I also noticed last week that The Sound is playing 100 minutes of commercial-free music starting at (wow) 8:00 am. I now think I know who is winning the KLOS vs. KSWD revenue war. I can't imagine a station giving up almost half of its morning drive slot for no commercials. You get the feeling their trying real hard not to be the odd station out in the Entravision spin-off game.
 
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ChannelFlipper said:
Was listening to KLOS over the weekend, and heard the lady DJ say at the beginning of a stopset "Have some G 'n R lined up when we're back in five". I thought to myself, "Whoa, doesn't that violate some sort of rule that says you never tell listeners they are in for a lot of commercials?"

I know more than a few listeners must have done the same thing I did which was to channel flip immediately, and I bet of those that did, most were like me and never found their way back that day. I also know if I was the station manager, this would border on being a fireable offense. Listeners are hard enough to get without the DJ chasing them off. I remember Howard Stern on KLSX sometimes had crazy stopsets that lasted over 10 minutes, but he never said how long they would be.

In the meantime I also noticed last week that The Sound is playing 100 minutes of commercial-free music starting at (wow) 8:00 am. I now think I know who is winning the KLOS vs. KSWD revenue war. I can't imagine a station giving up almost half of its morning drive slot for no commercials. You get the feeling their trying real hard not to be the odd station out in the Entravision spin-off game.
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Any commercial break that lasts longer than three minutes is a guarantee that I will change the station and not come back for awhile. I don't care where you are, what your format is, or what age group you're going after, anything longer is just too much at one time. It was a problem 50 years ago, and it's a problem today.
 
KeithE4 said:
Any commercial break that lasts longer than three minutes is a guarantee that I will change the station and not come back for awhile. I don't care where you are, what your format is, or what age group you're going after, anything longer is just too much at one time. It was a problem 50 years ago, and it's a problem today.
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I don't even have Keith's patience. You are out after one minute and that only if the next song has been identified and I like it.

And after a couple of pre-set hits I just dial up my mp3 player and radio is done for the day.

There is one more thing though......if the ad is a shouted auto commercial or one of those long-winded "improve your health" speeches the pre-set gets hit immediately. Those of you who remember Lou Grubb - I would listen to his even though I would never buy anything made by GM (he was a Chevy dealer).
 
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landtuna said:
I don't even have Keith's patience. You are out after one minute and that only if the next song has been identified and I like it.
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For the record, my three-minute limit has been there for many decades, going back to even before I was an Official Card Carrying Member of the Sacred Sales Demo[sup]TM[/sup].

Now, in my ever-advancing geezerdom, my limit is dropping to two minutes. I'd really hate to be the advertiser who's ad is stuck at the end of a 5+ minute break. How many listeners are left? Or do they cut the ad rate for being at the end of the line?
 
KeithE4 said:
I'd really hate to be the advertiser who's ad is stuck at the end of a 5+ minute break. How many listeners are left? Or do they cut the ad rate for being at the end of the line?
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I have always wondered why buyers would tolerate their ads in the middle or end of a long commercial break. If it were me buying the ad time I would have been irate (unless of course some compensation in rates or make good was available).
 
landtuna said:
I have always wondered why buyers would tolerate their ads in the middle or end of a long commercial break. If it were me buying the ad time I would have been irate (unless of course some compensation in rates or make good was available).
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Keep in mind advertisers know exactly what they're buying. They don't just buy one ad. They buy thousands. It's all a crap shoot. The ads run at different parts of each break. So it really doesn't matter where the ad runs, because statistically there will be people there regardless. If all they bought was one ad, and that one ad was at the end of a break, it probably missed a lot of ears. But if you bought five ads an hour, and they each aired at different points in the break, then chances are the majority of people heard it at least twice.

There are an awful lot of people who are simply TOO LAZY to change the station. A LOT of people. People who are at work, changing the oil in someone's car, with the radio playing, and they're simply not going to stop what they're doing, walk 30 feet to change the station. That's just one example.
 
ChannelFlipper said:
You get the feeling their trying real hard not to be the odd station out in the Entravision spin-off game.
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Entravision? Entercom, Enter Sanctum, Enterloper, Enter Gallactic, etc. Yes, just like a five minute commercial break, it all just runs together after a while!
 
DrAkbar said:
Entravision? Entercom, Enter Sanctum, Enterloper, Enter Gallactic, etc. Yes, just like a five minute commercial break, it all just runs together after a while!
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Ha Ha! Good catch. Other astute (and hopefully just as comedic) observers will notice that I must have failed the fifth grade since I apparently can't tell when it is appropriate to use "they're" instead of "their". Sorry grammer police, I threw the flag on myself, you'll have to troll elsewhere now. You had your chance.
 
I don't even wait 3 minutes. Knowing that most modern music stations run long song sweeps, then at least 5 minutes of commercials, I'm outta there after the DJ outros the last song - or more likely these days - the pre-recorded bumper.
The long music sweeps are the upside, the super-long stop set the down side.

I've wondered what advertisers think of this. If I were an advertiser, I would NOT want to be commercial #5 among 10. By that time, I figure people have changed the station, or tuned out mentally.
 
The original Paul Harvey had a great system for introducing commercials. He would simply segue into the commercial from whatever he was spewing and it would be 10-15-20 seconds before you realized it was a commercial. That was slick. And his serious low-key delivery wasn't likely to offend anyone. As much as I hated commercials I never tuned out of his. I don't remember ever buying any product he pushed either but that is a topic for another time.
 
Paul always said "Page 2" or whatever before the commercial.


landtuna said:
The original Paul Harvey had a great system for introducing commercials. He would simply segue into the commercial from whatever he was spewing and it would be 10-15-20 seconds before you realized it was a commercial. That was slick. And his serious low-key delivery wasn't likely to offend anyone. As much as I hated commercials I never tuned out of his. I don't remember ever buying any product he pushed either but that is a topic for another time.
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There are plenty of news-talk stations where the hosts "endorse" local merchants, and sometimes "low T centers" .

TheBigA said:
They charged extra for that. And advertisers would LOVE to have DJs hawk their suppositories and hemorrhoid ointments, but they refuse.
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On top of that, since condolidation especially, most stations break around the same times of the hour, with no one trying to be first in and out of breaks (I worked at one such station, the idea was to be out of the break before the competition started theirs.

TheBigA said:
Keep in mind advertisers know exactly what they're buying. They don't just buy one ad. They buy thousands. It's all a crap shoot. The ads run at different parts of each break. So it really doesn't matter where the ad runs, because statistically there will be people there regardless. If all they bought was one ad, and that one ad was at the end of a break, it probably missed a lot of ears. But if you bought five ads an hour, and they each aired at different points in the break, then chances are the majority of people heard it at least twice.

There are an awful lot of people who are simply TOO LAZY to change the station. A LOT of people. People who are at work, changing the oil in someone's car, with the radio playing, and they're simply not going to stop what they're doing, walk 30 feet to change the station. That's just one example.
Click to expand...
 
LKellerIII said:
I don't even wait 3 minutes. Knowing that most modern music stations run long song sweeps, then at least 5 minutes of commercials, I'm outta there after the DJ outros the last song - or more likely these days - the pre-recorded bumper.
The long music sweeps are the upside, the super-long stop set the down side.

I've wondered what advertisers think of this. If I were an advertiser, I would NOT want to be commercial #5 among 10. By that time, I figure people have changed the station, or tuned out mentally.
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There have been multiple studies done on this subject, all concluding that those who are going to leave do so in the first moments of the first commercial, with over 90% remaining for the whole commercial break.

A bad song in a music format will cause greater attrition.
 
gr8oldies said:
There are plenty of news-talk stations where the hosts "endorse" local merchants, and sometimes "low T centers" .
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Sure, and given the ban by major advertisers against controversial talk programming, the only way for talk hosts to make money is with endorsements. But I was talking about music DJs who are more interested in associating with the music than with sponsors.
 
I've noticed a trend very recently in talk radio where the host slides right into a commercial without a beat or a breath.

" ... we should hear details of the plan in tomorrow's news conference and to be ready for the day ahead it's important to use the right razor ... "

That kind of thing. Quite a few hosts are doing it. There's no change in tone or any indication of the break from programming to commercial.
 
robnokshus06 said:
There is a distinct advantage to being the first spot in a break and many advertisers pay a premium to occupy that position.
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Really? Do you have examples?

The only exception is if they do a title buy with "brought to you by...." But they're paying for that brand association, not the placement.

It's rare that an advertiser wants to pay a "premium price." They're mostly looking for discounts. They don't offer a discount for the last spot in a cluster either. We've offered all kinds of things, including the only advertiser in an hour, and it's rare we get interest.
 
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