Why do certain radio stations air their legal ID in the middle of the hour?

[bobdavcav]

Although listeners to Top 40 radio from the '60s well into the '80s will remember the big production numbers that those stations' top-of-the-hour IDs were. Drum roll, big-voiced announcer proclaiming, "And now, ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Dark, on WRKO Boston!," upbeat jingle "68 RKO!," then, always, an uptempo song with a punchy intro: "Gimme Some Lovin'," "Taking Care of Business," "Don't Pull Your Love." Never would you hear "Tell It Like It Is" or "Colour My World" at the top of the hour.

Now, I suppose, it doesn't matter what gets played after the legal ID. Besides, since rhythmic now rules, everything CHR plays is uptempo anyway.

Not really anymore, there's been a fair number of slow to mid-tempo hits lately. Back to the topic though, one that I think could have been done better is KUPL in Portland, which has actually gone back to putting its legal in a music set. When they first relaunched as the Bull, the legal was a quick KUPL Portland buried in the commercial break, then the next sounder that would play said "98-7 the Bull is Portland's brand new country radio station." So, why couldn't they have just said "98-7 the Bull is KUPL Portland's brand new country radio station?" That would have also been perfectly legal, and wouldn't have generated any complaints from this listener.

 

[bobdavcav]

The reason for the break placement in the top 48 PPM markets is to try to get as many minutes worth of credit in the quarter hour. With 5 consecutive or scattered minutes, you get a credit for one quarter hour. The idea is if the break is in the middle, you can get the beginning credit even if there is tune out.

To me this logic only makes sense if you are extremely confident that your listeners are going to stay in the format, but I know very few people who do, and even if I could think of someone, they'd more than likely punch around until they found music, rather than sitting through a break. If my competitor took breaks at 15 and 45, I'd want to set my breaks opposite them to get those listeners who have tuned away for commercials. Here in the Portland market, iHeart executed this strategy brilliantly five years ago. AC KKCW, I'm guessing hoping to steal some older listeners from Hot AC KRSK, had their breaks opposite. CHR KKRZ and KRSK had their breaks at the same time, but co-owned Rhythmic KXJM was opposite.