Treasure Coast Is That All There Is?

[John FL]

I recently heard Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” at an antique shop. It wasn’t the kind of song you’d hear on 1969 hit music stations. In mom’s domain, the kitchen, the radio was often tuned to NYC’s WNEW-AM. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Stevie & Edie etc., played there.

As I listened to this song, I thought it perfectly described my feelings about radio, playlists, the commercials, streaming, posting on this board, and more to be honest.

Gone are my radio junkie on steroids days. Today I am a typical in terms of radio listening. It’s usually less than an hour a day. I also don’t always turn on the radio in the car. As Depeche Mode sings, “Enjoy the Silence” and sometimes I do.

When I first discovered this site when it was the former “Radio-Info.com,” I felt like a kid in the candy store. Finally, there was opportunity to chat with radio pros and radio enthusiasts while voicing my own opinions. As time moved along, I had a lot to say!

I miss being active on this board. Since the last holiday season, I must have written a half dozen posts on a Word doc, only to delete them. Where words used to flow, it’s now tedious putting thoughts together. I do feel some motivation with this topic. Hopefully, I won’t feel it wasn’t worth the effort.

Florida’s Treasure Coast has a large senior population. That probably explains Soft AC, WOSN, 97.1 Ocean FM (Lite & Refreshing) presence in this Top 100 market. It’s a station that gets most of my attention. I also listen to iHeart’s Classic Hits WQOL as I have a lot of history with them. It’s long been a very well-run station too. More on that later.

WOSN can best be described as soft classic hits for older adults with an emphasis on 70s and some 80s titles. Sometimes a 60s classic will surprise. They have what appears are loyal local sponsors. It’s a format that appears to work well for the market.

On Xfinity’s 70s Music Choice channel, I recently heard, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)," a song from 1971 sung by The New Seekers. Coca Cola had a highly successful advertising campaign on TV and Radio based on an earlier version with specific lyrics about Coke. It featured The Hillside Singers. The commercial was filmed by a hillside too. It had a diverse group of people singing about offering the beverage to a troubled world.

There was a radio version as well where the jock would add a comment or two. I also remember Coke sponsoring a half hour of Cousin Brucie’s Saturday night show on WABC. Theirs was the only spot you’d hear. That was not uncommon way back when.

Upcoming: More on advertising.

 

[ted chittenden]

I recently heard Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?” at an antique shop. It wasn’t the kind of song you’d hear on 1969 hit music stations. In mom’s domain, the kitchen, the radio was often tuned to NYC’s WNEW-AM. Sinatra, Dean Martin, Stevie & Edie etc., played there.

As I listened to this song, I thought it perfectly described my feelings about radio, playlists, the commercials, streaming, posting on this board, and more to be honest.

Gone are my radio junkie on steroids days. Today I am a typical in terms of radio listening. It’s usually less than an hour a day. I also don’t always turn on the radio in the car. As Depeche Mode sings, “Enjoy the Silence” and sometimes I do.

When I first discovered this site when it was the former “Radio-Info.com,” I felt like a kid in the candy store. Finally, there was opportunity to chat with radio pros and radio enthusiasts while voicing my own opinions. As time moved along, I had a lot to say!

I miss being active on this board. Since the last holiday season, I must have written a half dozen posts on a Word doc, only to delete them. Where words used to flow, it’s now tedious putting thoughts together. I do feel some motivation with this topic. Hopefully, I won’t feel it wasn’t worth the effort.

Florida’s Treasure Coast has a large senior population. That probably explains Soft AC, WOSN, 97.1 Ocean FM (Lite & Refreshing) presence in this Top 100 market. It’s a station that gets most of my attention. I also listen to iHeart’s Classic Hits WQOL as I have a lot of history with them. It’s long been a very well-run station too. More on that later.

WOSN can best be described as soft classic hits for older adults with an emphasis on 70s and some 80s titles. Sometimes a 60s classic will surprise. They have what appears are loyal local sponsors. It’s a format that appears to work well for the market.

On Xfinity’s 70s Music Choice channel, I recently heard, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)," a song from 1971 sung by The New Seekers. Coca Cola had a highly successful advertising campaign on TV and Radio based on an earlier version with specific lyrics about Coke. It featured The Hillside Singers. The commercial was filmed by a hillside too. It had a diverse group of people singing about offering the beverage to a troubled world.

There was a radio version as well where the jock would add a comment or two. I also remember Coke sponsoring a half hour of Cousin Brucie’s Saturday night show on WABC. Theirs was the only spot you’d hear. That was not uncommon way back when.

Upcoming: More on advertising.

So WOSN-FM has updated its playlist as its audience has aged. I've seen it listed as a standards station in the past but given the rapid depletion of that audience and the lack of advertisers' interest in that audience, I can certainly see why a format update would be appropriate.

With regard to "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony),", Coke used versions by both the New Seekers and Hillside Singers in its advertising messages. Also, both artists had top 40 hits in late 1971 and early 1972 with a non-brand version of the song. (In fact, both unbranded versions wound up in Billboard's top 100 songs for the year 1972.)

 

[John FL]

So WOSN-FM has updated its playlist as its audience has aged. I've seen it listed as a standards station in the past but given the rapid depletion of that audience and the lack of advertisers' interest in that audience, I can certainly see why a format update would be appropriate.

With regard to "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony),", Coke used versions by both the New Seekers and Hillside Singers in its advertising messages. Also, both artists had top 40 hits in late 1971 and early 1972 with a non-brand version of the song. (In fact, both unbranded versions wound up in Billboard's top 100 songs for the year 1972.)

Appreciate the clarification.
50+ year recollections are not always accurate. What I've also noticed as well is A.I. and other internet research isn't always accurate either when it comes to radio and music. I did not know, or have forgotten, the Hillside Singers version was even a hit. In the early 70s, virtually all my radio listening would have been on WABC. It's entirely possible, that station never went with the Hillside Singers version. As the whole world knows by now, they were very selective in what got played. I'll check that out in my spare time

Since moving to The Treasure Coast in February, 2018, WOSN-FM was as it pretty much is today featuring soft hits. The flip from Standards was still evident in the stations' social media pages. I read a lot of angry comments from listeners. Someone from the station's management posted about the big improvement that was seen in attracting some younger listeners.

I'm planning on discussing playlists later so I'll talk more about WOSN-FM at that time.

 

[ted chittenden]

Appreciate the clarification.
50+ year recollections are not always accurate. What I've also noticed as well is A.I. and other internet research isn't always accurate either when it comes to radio and music. I did not know, or have forgotten, the Hillside Singers version was even a hit. In the early 70s, virtually all my radio listening would have been on WABC. It's entirely possible, that station never went with the Hillside Singers version. As the whole world knows by now, they were very selective in what got played. I'll check that out in my spare time

Since moving to The Treasure Coast in February, 2018, WOSN-FM was as it pretty much is today featuring soft hits. The flip from Standards was still evident in the stations' social media pages. I read a lot of angry comments from listeners. Someone from the station's management posted about the big improvement that was seen in attracting some younger listeners.

I'm planning on discussing playlists later so I'll talk more about WOSN-FM at that time.

Not everybody played both versions of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony). In fact, many stations chose the version they would have on their playlists. While RKO's KHJ and WRKO played the New Seekers' version of the song, Salt Lake City's KCPX and Orlando, Florida's WLOF chose to play the Hillside Singers version. Ultimately, the New Seekers' version of the song was the bigger national hit but the Hillside Singers' version wasn't really that far behind it.

 

[John FL]

Not everybody played both versions of "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (in Perfect Harmony). In fact, many stations chose the version they would have on their playlists. While RKO's KHJ and WRKO played the New Seekers' version of the song, Salt Lake City's KCPX and Orlando, Florida's WLOF chose to play the Hillside Singers version. Ultimately, the New Seekers' version of the song was the bigger national hit but the Hillside Singers' version wasn't really that far behind it.

The mystery is solved and I'm rather surprised at what I found.

The Hillside Singers version of the song was heard on WABC beginning in December of 1971. The song never cracked the Top 10 on WABC but it just meandered around the lower survey tier. What I find fascinating is PD Rick Sklar didn't usually keep a song on the survey more than 2 or 3 weeks that didn't appear to go anywhere. By February 1972, both versions of the song "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing (In Perfect Harmony) played on WABC.
From what I can tell, it was 2 weeks that both versions played.

The New Seekers was the only version that cracked the Top 10 and appeared on WABC's Top 100 of 1972. (Position #90)

The only logical explanation I can see in this is Coke was spending mega bucks advertising on the station. As they say money talks. Rick probably didn't want to upset the apple cart. With both songs, there was more exposure and a happy sponsor.

This is a perfect segue as I do want to speak about some of the aspects of radio advertising.

 

[John FL]

Whenever I had the opportunity to discuss radio with young people, for example, when I visited Jacksonville University in one of their career day events, I was often met with polite skepticism when I’d talk about the creativity and entertainment value of commercials.

That’s a time and place (AM music heydays) that’s long gone. To me, whether you’re talking music programing or producing a local ad, there should be some evidence of effort.

When my job brought me to Jacksonville in the late 90s, I wound up renting for a while. Just like radio was going through a lot of downsizing initiatives, so was my own career in banking. There were amazing similarities between radio and banking, both from a technology and consolidation perspective.

Eventually I bought a home that was far from turnkey. I often turned to sponsors I heard on News/Talk WOKV for various services I needed to fix up the house. When I spoke to the business owner about the radio ads that brought me to their business, I’d hear comments along the lines of “We’re very happy with the results we get from WOKV.” IMO, their local spots were produced well. They got my attention and there were some entertaining features to them as well. That’s when radio ‘works.’

As I recall, there were also personal endorsements from those familiar voices. To this day and different community, my wife is a “Good Feet Store” customer.

There are non-music formats such as news/talk, sports, and others. Perhaps listeners are more receptive to hearing ads on non-music formats that may be less disruptive to the flow of the format itself. There are commercials that are professionally produced and heard throughout the country. What I’m specifically concerned with here are locally produced spots. These cost far less to produce but they shouldn’t sound cheap. That’s the dilemma.

Here on The Treasure Coast, iHeart radio stations run a combo of both National/Agency spots and locally produced ones. Virtually all the local commercials are voiced by the PD of the markets’ Country & Classic Hits formats. He also has air shifts on both stations so there’s probably an attempt at personalizing the spots.

Likewise, WOSN-FM of Treasure & Space Coast Radio that I mentioned earlier, is highly engaged in running spots for the small businesses in the area. I have heard a relatively few national spots. So obviously, revenue is driven heavily from local direct in a market like this.

Next: More on advertising and stopset strategies.

 

[ted chittenden]

Whenever I had the opportunity to discuss radio with young people, for example, when I visited Jacksonville University in one of their career day events, I was often met with polite skepticism when I’d talk about the creativity and entertainment value of commercials.

That’s a time and place (AM music heydays) that’s long gone. To me, whether you’re talking music programing or producing a local ad, there should be some evidence of effort.

When my job brought me to Jacksonville in the late 90s, I wound up renting for a while. Just like radio was going through a lot of downsizing initiatives, so was my own career in banking. There were amazing similarities between radio and banking, both from a technology and consolidation perspective.

Eventually I bought a home that was far from turnkey. I often turned to sponsors I heard on News/Talk WOKV for various services I needed to fix up the house. When I spoke to the business owner about the radio ads that brought me to their business, I’d hear comments along the lines of “We’re very happy with the results we get from WOKV.” IMO, their local spots were produced well. They got my attention and there were some entertaining features to them as well. That’s when radio ‘works.’

As I recall, there were also personal endorsements from those familiar voices. To this day and different community, my wife is a “Good Feet Store” customer.

There are non-music formats such as news/talk, sports, and others. Perhaps listeners are more receptive to hearing ads on non-music formats that may be less disruptive to the flow of the format itself. There are commercials that are professionally produced and heard throughout the country. What I’m specifically concerned with here are locally produced spots. These cost far less to produce but they shouldn’t sound cheap. That’s the dilemma.

Here on The Treasure Coast, iHeart radio stations run a combo of both National/Agency spots and locally produced ones. Virtually all the local commercials are voiced by the PD of the markets’ Country & Classic Hits formats. He also has air shifts on both stations so there’s probably an attempt at personalizing the spots.

Likewise, WOSN-FM of Treasure & Space Coast Radio that I mentioned earlier, is highly engaged in running spots for the small businesses in the area. I have heard a relatively few national spots. So obviously, revenue is driven heavily from local direct in a market like this.

Next: More on advertising and stopset strategies.

I have said the following elsewhere before and I'll say it here again. I argue that one of the biggest reasons for the decline of the on-air disc jockey is the decline (in fact, the complete dismantling of) the commercial copy he/she had to read on breaks. If you listen to any of the old top-40 airchecks from WABC, KHJ, WLS, WCFL, and any number of the top-40 radio stations of the erra, one of the first things to be noticed is the amount of live copy that has to be read on the air. Starting in the 1980s, that changed to where very little, if any, live ad copy is read over the air today. Each commercial now has its own preproduced spot, either by the station or by the ad agency that sold the spot in the first place. When station owners realized that there was no more live copy for their over-the-air announcers to read, they dropped the announcers and became automated.

Yes, I've heard (and at least partially agree with) the argument that on-the-air talent was sacked because that talent wasn't helping radio stations ratingswise. But, in my mind at least, the death of the over-the-air disc jockey is now very much associated with the death of the live reads. Radio stations received money for those live reads and when that money stopped coming in, there was no reason to keep the readers around anymore, either.

 

[b-turner]

Ted, I was a DJ in the late 1970s and most of the 1980s. Live reads were rare everywhere I lived and mid-1960s forward listening to stations like WHB in Kansas City and KLIF in Dallas, live reads were rare. The DJ got a fee. The station got the charge for the commercial recorded or live (live was at a premium). The DJs were personalities listeners would tune in to hear. DJs were a big draw to the station

John FL - always love your commentaries. Commercials have always been a sore spot in programming to me. It is a sore spot because the advertiser rules. They can dictate the sound, quality and such. I have always said if we could match the commercial to the format, we'd have something.

Spec spots could be quite useful. At one station we had incredible generic copy and great talent and effect where one voice was added for a finished product. Those spurred creative spots in house. There was a spot for the roofing company and the cut-rate shade tree roofer. The next door neighbors needed new roofs. One called our client. The other didn't. The shade tree roofer showed up some days and eventually fell off the roof long after the neighbor's roof had been completed. The shade tree roofer sued. His neighbor never knew you need a good lawyer when you least expect it. It was comical. The auto parts store where a guy and a witch show up at our client's competition to ask a few questions. If the guy in the auto parts store lies, his nose grows. Do you have a better selection than...bigger, uh smaller. Do you offer a warranty just like...Yes we do, uh, no (each comes with the sound effect of the nose growing and getting smaller once the answer is truthful). And how's your prices...lower, uh higher...uh, lots higher (you hear a hole blown in the roof). Witch says proof solid X auto parts wins by a nose!

We tried taking spec spot like these to clients and a few bought. We did unexpected commercials. I had a heating and air conditioning company run a spot with us in July and August that began with: The following courtesy of; then you got a Chrismas song. At the end of the spot we said If you had called (client) you'd be singing along. Where I was it eclipsed 100 every day in July and August. We had a golf shop that had a spot with a guy using every golf term in the spot. At one point he says "My wife got teed off when she said it's me or golf and I told her I was sure gonna miss her".

At one point in the late 1970s and early 1980s, KLBJ FM in Austin had the most entertaining commercials I actually listened for the commercials. How they pulled that off has to be a great story.

I've toyed in thought of how to incorporate advertised products within the format in much the same way product placement happens in TV and movies.

The sad part of the relationship of the commercial and radio is we effectively taught our audience the commercial was bad. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. We stressed more music, fewer commercials, effectively saying commercials are bad.

I was always pro-commercial. Some of my listen to win contests were to listen for us to advertise X and when we do be caller 6 to win or you win this if you're the first caller to tell me the last commercial we played.

 

[Radio Bob]

Ted, I was a DJ in the late 1970s and most of the 1980s. Live reads were rare everywhere I lived and mid-1960s forward listening to stations like WHB in Kansas City and KLIF in Dallas, live reads were rare. The DJ got a fee. The station got the charge for the commercial recorded or live (live was at a premium). The DJs were personalities listeners would tune in to hear. DJs were a big draw to the station

John FL - always love your commentaries. Commercials have always been a sore spot in programming to me. It is a sore spot because the advertiser rules. They can dictate the sound, quality and such. I have always said if we could match the commercial to the format, we'd have something.

Spec spots could be quite useful. At one station we had incredible generic copy and great talent and effect where one voice was added for a finished product. Those spurred creative spots in house. There was a spot for the roofing company and the cut-rate shade tree roofer. The next door neighbors needed new roofs. One called our client. The other didn't. The shade tree roofer showed up some days and eventually fell off the roof long after the neighbor's roof had been completed. The shade tree roofer sued. His neighbor never knew you need a good lawyer when you least expect it. It was comical. The auto parts store where a guy and a witch show up at our client's competition to ask a few questions. If the guy in the auto parts store lies, his nose grows. Do you have a better selection than...bigger, uh smaller. Do you offer a warranty just like...Yes we do, uh, no (each comes with the sound effect of the nose growing and getting smaller once the answer is truthful). And how's your prices...lower, uh higher...uh, lots higher (you hear a hole blown in the roof). Witch says proof solid X auto parts wins by a nose!

We tried taking spec spot like these to clients and a few bought. We did unexpected commercials. I had a heating and air conditioning company run a spot with us in July and August that began with: The following courtesy of; then you got a Chrismas song. At the end of the spot we said If you had called (client) you'd be singing along. Where I was it eclipsed 100 every day in July and August. We had a golf shop that had a spot with a guy using every golf term in the spot. At one point he says "My wife got teed off when she said it's me or golf and I told her I was sure gonna miss her".

At one point in the late 1970s and early 1980s, KLBJ FM in Austin had the most entertaining commercials I actually listened for the commercials. How they pulled that off has to be a great story.

I've toyed in thought of how to incorporate advertised products within the format in much the same way product placement happens in TV and movies.

The sad part of the relationship of the commercial and radio is we effectively taught our audience the commercial was bad. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you. We stressed more music, fewer commercials, effectively saying commercials are bad.

I was always pro-commercial. Some of my listen to win contests were to listen for us to advertise X and when we do be caller 6 to win or you win this if you're the first caller to tell me the last commercial we played.

When I was a youngster we all listened to WTOD in Toledo as much for the funny commercials as for the music. Bob Martz, the manager was great at coming up with hilarious stuff . The kids would discuss the commercials as much as they talked about the music.

 

[davideduardo]

I have said the following elsewhere before and I'll say it here again. I argue that one of the biggest reasons for the decline of the on-air disc jockey is the decline (in fact, the complete dismantling of) the commercial copy he/she had to read on breaks.

Practically no commercials are read live any more. A few that are “endorsements” are pre-scripted and done in multiple versions in advance. Most live ads died as legal issues involving wrong words, terms or promises created lawsuit fodder for lawyers.

If you listen to any of the old top-40 airchecks from WABC, KHJ, WLS, WCFL, and any number of the top-40 radio stations of the erra, one of the first things to be noticed is the amount of live copy that has to be read on the air.

True on a few stations in very big markets, but not very usual elsewhere.

In general, ad agencies stopped wanting live reads except for a very few “star” local or network talents.

Starting in the 1980s, that changed to where very little, if any, live ad copy is read over the air today. Each commercial now has its own preproduced spot, either by the station or by the ad agency that sold the spot in the first place. When station owners realized that there was no more live copy for their over-the-air announcers to read, they dropped the announcers and became automated.

Ad agencies don’t “sell” spots, they buy them. Agencies produce creative materials for their clients and then buy ad time or positions in media.

Yes, I've heard (and at least partially agree with) the argument that on-the-air talent was sacked because that talent wasn't helping radio stations ratingswise. But, in my mind at least, the death of the over-the-air disc jockey is now very much associated with the death of the live reads.

Live reads were mostly limited to a few talents on a few important stations.

Radio stations received money for those live reads and when that money stopped coming in, there was no reason to keep the readers around anymore, either.

And it was and is the clients, the advertisers and their agencies, who decided whether to use live copy or recorded material. No station I know hired or hires announcers because they can do live reads. DJs are hired because they do entertaining or compelling things in between songs.

 

[Gregg.]

No station I know hired or hires announcers because they can do live reads. DJs are hired because they do entertaining or compelling things in between songs.

But we do have the interesting example of all-news stations in NYC. Apparently some advertisers like certain anchors to read their spots.

I remember on WCBS 880 where dual anchors were heard in AM and PM drive, those teams would be asked to record commercials, each anchor reading two sentences before the other anchor continued. Not only would their reads get heard on WCBS but occasionally on rival all-news station WINS.

Even today, some WINS anchors are asked to do certain clients' spots, updating them every few weeks. They even say their names, which I assume means they are getting a fee for this service. I've heard Larry Mullins, Scott Stanford and Susan Richard do these commercials.

 

[Larry]

O

Even today, some WINS anchors are asked to do certain clients' spots, updating them every few weeks. They even say their names, which I assume means they are getting a fee for this service. I've heard Larry Mullins, Scott Stanford and Susan Richard do these commercials.

Same with all news KYW in Philly. Sometimes I think the spots might be live because if there is a substitute anchor on the air sometimes I hear them do the spots.

 

[Bongwater]

"Is That All There Is" was written by Leiber and Stoller, who wrote some of rock n' rolls early big hits. A very unlikely song for the same guys who wrote "Hound Dog", with the sad reflective tone in the verses of ITATI. But many people connected enough with the song to make it a megahit for Peggy Lee.

There was an infamous punk cover in 1980 by an L.A. singer named Cristina with twisted verses (Clean lyrics, but HR unfriendly "scenarios". It was 1980. Make of it what you want.)

Leiber and Stoller sued Cristina, but settled. It appeared on a 12" single and uncredited on a local 1981 KROQ Rodney On The Roq compilation.

 

[John FL]

There’s been a lot of interesting responses and it’s always good to learn a few new things along the way. To add a little to the song, “Is That All There Is,” it earned Peggy Lee a Grammy for best female vocalist in the pop category in 1970. It was also nominated for song of the year, losing out to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” which was highly expected to win multiple awards and that happened.

I’ve always liked the song. In fact, the sadder side of music has had its share of hits. Music can be so personal. Whatever major events happen in our life, we’ll often remember a hit song from that specific time. Even Elton John would sing about it all with his “Sad Songs (Say So Much) and they do!

As I think of advertising on the radio, much of it today sounds very impersonal. Like some of you, I especially enjoyed when the jock read a spot live on the air. I was lucky to have experienced the on-air genius that was Dan Ingram in his WABC days. You literally didn’t want to tune out when commercials played because you just might miss something hilarious or outrageous.

In my travels, I did notice some radio stations would literally “bite the hand that feeds it.” Still, I thought most stations I encountered emphasized “more music” or “the most music” in its jingles and sometimes even in the station ID. They’d be no mention of commercials.

When I moved to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market in the late 70s, Y100’s(WHYI) legendary PD, Bill Tanner, used the term “Music Marathon” to indicate a long music sweep was in progress. I always loved that clever line but never heard it anywhere else. It wasn’t necessary or prudent to slam the advertiser/the commercials.

Here on The Treasure Coast, I’ve noticed some locally produced spots seem formalistic. The feeling I get is a sales manager/other key associate asks the client some basic questions such as “Tell me something about your business,” and “What differentiates you from the others?” It creates a commercial that sounds like so many others. There’s not much to them…no music…no nothing!

If the script is 5 or 6 lines, it appears each one is recorded separately. I’m not sure why that is done. The ‘speaker’ appears to not take a breath. The listener hears a rapid delivery. The last line usually sounds upbeat such as “give them a call today.” It’s also a big contrast from where the “voice” left off in the last sentence. It’s not how people speak typically. There are continuity issues in video and films, and I think that applies to audio as well.

“There’s an app for that!” It was a few years ago that I posted about iHeart utilizing an online app where a small business owner could input info to initiate a marketing campaign. I would hope it doesn’t end there. A face-to-face with the client, I believe, would help develop a better spot. You can learn a lot more talking with someone. Still. I can't help but think "Is That All There Is" to commercials on the radio.

Radio may sound quite impersonal and it’s because we live in an impersonal world. I see a lot of lawyer commercials on TV where claims are handled through an app and there’s no need to visit with a lawyer in person. I’m sure the very high-profile cases are handled more personally. This is the reality of these times.

Here on The Treasure Coast, I’ve noticed differences in stopset length among stations and their frequency. I think there’s a strategy at play & so stay tuned for that!

 

[Rusty Muck]

Practically no commercials are read live any more. A few that are “endorsements” are pre-scripted and done in multiple versions in advance. Most live ads died as legal issues involving wrong words, terms or promises created lawsuit fodder for lawyers.

This reminds me of an infamous blooper by the late Mike Trivisonno at WTAM. In 1998, he did a genuinely live read for Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer and had a sound effect of a can opening and beer pouring into a cup. While in the middle of upselling Pabst, he played the wrong sound effect (of someone heaving) and everyone, everyone, collapsed in laughter. He was barely able to finish the spot.

Not long after that his "live reads" almost all became live-to-tape.

 

[ted chittenden]

There’s been a lot of interesting responses and it’s always good to learn a few new things along the way. To add a little to the song, “Is That All There Is,” it earned Peggy Lee a Grammy for best female vocalist in the pop category in 1970. It was also nominated for song of the year, losing out to Simon & Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” which was highly expected to win multiple awards and that happened.

I’ve always liked the song. In fact, the sadder side of music has had its share of hits. Music can be so personal. Whatever major events happen in our life, we’ll often remember a hit song from that specific time. Even Elton John would sing about it all with his “Sad Songs (Say So Much) and they do!

As I think of advertising on the radio, much of it today sounds very impersonal. Like some of you, I especially enjoyed when the jock read a spot live on the air. I was lucky to have experienced the on-air genius that was Dan Ingram in his WABC days. You literally didn’t want to tune out when commercials played because you just might miss something hilarious or outrageous.

In my travels, I did notice some radio stations would literally “bite the hand that feeds it.” Still, I thought most stations I encountered emphasized “more music” or “the most music” in its jingles and sometimes even in the station ID. They’d be no mention of commercials.

When I moved to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale market in the late 70s, Y100’s(WHYI) legendary PD, Bill Tanner, used the term “Music Marathon” to indicate a long music sweep was in progress. I always loved that clever line but never heard it anywhere else. It wasn’t necessary or prudent to slam the advertiser/the commercials.

Here on The Treasure Coast, I’ve noticed some locally produced spots seem formalistic. The feeling I get is a sales manager/other key associate asks the client some basic questions such as “Tell me something about your business,” and “What differentiates you from the others?” It creates a commercial that sounds like so many others. There’s not much to them…no music…no nothing!

If the script is 5 or 6 lines, it appears each one is recorded separately. I’m not sure why that is done. The ‘speaker’ appears to not take a breath. The listener hears a rapid delivery. The last line usually sounds upbeat such as “give them a call today.” It’s also a big contrast from where the “voice” left off in the last sentence. It’s not how people speak typically. There are continuity issues in video and films, and I think that applies to audio as well.

“There’s an app for that!” It was a few years ago that I posted about iHeart utilizing an online app where a small business owner could input info to initiate a marketing campaign. I would hope it doesn’t end there. A face-to-face with the client, I believe, would help develop a better spot. You can learn a lot more talking with someone. Still. I can't help but think "Is That All There Is" to commercials on the radio.

Radio may sound quite impersonal and it’s because we live in an impersonal world. I see a lot of lawyer commercials on TV where claims are handled through an app and there’s no need to visit with a lawyer in person. I’m sure the very high-profile cases are handled more personally. This is the reality of these times.

Here on The Treasure Coast, I’ve noticed differences in stopset length among stations and their frequency. I think there’s a strategy at play & so stay tuned for that!

One of the things I've noticed on a broader scale as I've aged is how many people are desperate and take themselves way too seriously. When I was younger (back in the 1970s and 1980s), there were a lot of musical ads and a lot of commercials that almost made fun of themselves. (Remember the commercials for the battery that were inserted into other commercials from the same ad agency for television?) Now. Everyone is desperate and everyone is trying to do the hard sell and everyone is trying to be absolutely carefull on the legal side so they don't step on anybody else's intellectual property. And the result, as you've said, are advertisements that are not only way too serious but that also really miss their target by a wide mile.

 

[John FL]

It may have been a couple years ago that I noticed WOSN-FM, the Soft AC format I mentioned earlier, (97.1 Ocean FM) went with three stopsets per hour outside of morning drive. My first reaction was why would they do that? At least for all the radio stations I’ve encountered, two stopsets per hour appears to be the norm.

This is a mom & pop station. They don’t stream or post their songs played. And so, I couldn’t rely on anything but my own listening habits to figure there’s around 6-7 minutes of spots per hour. Virtually all of them promote local businesses. So, each stopset is around 2 minutes or so in length.

But as I continued to listen, I realized that even though the station is automated 20 hours a day outside of morning drive, it doesn’t sound that way. Those occasional voices along with the female voice imaging they use give some life to the station.

In the noon hour during the week, a familiar voice who also is heard in some of the spots gives a brief stock market report. At the bottom of the hour there’s a trivia question contest he mostly voices as well. I suspect he’s the owner/manager. It's all hands on deck.

I would have thought three stopsets per hour would interrupt the flow of music. But that doesn’t happen IMO. I think part of the reason is they still feature quite a lot of, especially 70s songs, that are around 3 minutes in length. And so 4 or 5 songs in a set sounds like a longer music sweep.

Over at iHeart’s Classic Hits station, WQOL, Coast 103.7, there’s an excruciatingly long first stopset of the hour. Both WOSN-FM and WQOL start commercials at roughly the same time – around 10 after the hour.

By time WQOL resumes playing music, WOSN-FM is on it’s second and sometimes even third song in the music set. I verified this yesterday in looking through WQOL’s last song played feature. On average, the first stopset is 9 minutes long and the second one is 6 minutes long. Sometimes, both stopsets can be a little longer than I stated. They through everything in these breaks including iHeart promotions and weather reports.

Virtually all of my listening to WQOL occurs midday.

As someone who’s listened to WQOL for a long time, even before moving to The Treasure Coast, I never remember this many spots which comes out to around 15 minutes per hour. At night, it’s a bit of a different story as there are less listeners. I don’t drive a lot at night but sometimes I do, and the stopsets are still long but not to the degree they are earlier.

And so, I must wonder if the same situations exist in the PPM markets. I’d think there would be evidence of tune-out. Then I also wonder if ad rates have come down to accommodate the local market and so now there’s more spots to try to make up. Anyway, I’ll leave this up to the experts.

There’s a running joke in the area where I live in that we’re about 20 minutes from most restaurants, doctors, businesses etc. And so, if listeners tune in WQOL at 10 after the hour, they will hear nothing but commercials for half their journey. Whatever good the station does, I would think this many commercials negates a lot. And so it goes with “Is That All There Is” with commercials.

Upcoming: music and playlists

 

[b-turner]

WOSN should see success in 3 stop sets an hour of about 2 minutes as long as those stop sets occur just prior to WQOL. If WOSN is back to music by the time WQOL is going to their stop sets, they should gain listeners. I am not sure if they promote "back to music in 2 minutes or less" or "54 minutes of music this hour", but they should. For sure the WOSN listener is going to notice the length of the WQOL stop set and not be happy with that because they have been groomed to hear two minutes or less. I'd push the 'local station' aspect as well.

 

[bigdonho]

Never was big on live reads when i was on the air. But, the real bane of my existence were live tags. "Starts Thursday." " Bananas are thirty cents a pound today only!" "See Dave Corey broadcasting live from Massey Dodge Saturday from noon 'til three. Free Cokes and hot dogs."

If you forgot the tag the client would bitch, the salesman would bitch and you had to schedule a makegood.

I secretly think the client wanted to squeeze a little more time into his 30 sec spot.

 

[radiofan2023]

Commercials have always been a sore spot in programming to me. It is a sore spot because the advertiser rules. They can dictate the sound, quality and such. I have always said if we could match the commercial to the format, we'd have something.

There's an attorney named Roderick White whose commercial sounds like a hip hop song, it plays on KPRS/Hot 103 and possibly other stations. I think it's been mentioned before. When I first heard it, I didn't realize it was a commercial until it got to the part with his name and number.