A little suprised people haven't mentioned this yet...

[slaterradio]

This is not a gargantuan issue and I don't have any earth-shattering revalations here.
There are now commercials running about once an hour (or so I estimate) promoting terrestrial radio. I've heard them on almost every major FM Houston radio station--KILT, KBXX, KRBE, KODA, KHMX, KMJQ, KKBQ, KTBZ and so on.
The ad goes something like--"Radio, you shouldn't have to pay for it. This message brought to you by America's 13,000 local radio stations who believe some things were just meant to be free."

Terrestrial radio has never run mass ads like this at this frequency before. I find it interesting. Nothing major, I know, but enough for some light discussion.

You can't miss these commercials. They're getting played more often.

 

[Mediafrog]

> You can't miss these commercials. They're getting played
> more often.

Perhaps an indication that broadcasters are starting to feel a little pressure from the satellite radio providers. Notice that the spots deal with talk, sports, and news, and NOT about the musical variety on terrestrial radio?

 

[adguy]

> > You can't miss these commercials. They're getting played
> > more often.
>
> Perhaps an indication that broadcasters are starting to feel
> a little pressure from the satellite radio providers.
> Notice that the spots deal with talk, sports, and news, and
> NOT about the musical variety on terrestrial radio?
>
It's also the first 2-3 weeks in January. Very little business. PSA's are king and that's what you're hearing. Every time you hear one of these spots, it's really an unsold commercial spot. You'll be hearing less and less of these as the weeks go on. One thing however, it seems that the stations are making a collective effort to promote "free" radio where they would normally just run a mish-mash of different PSA's (Public Service Announcments) during this slow business period.

--Adguy

 

[mofodajojo]

this is an ad campaign that was announced almost a year ago to promote "free" radio. and yes, it was clearly stated at the time it was announced that it is a defensive move against sat radio.

mo

> This is not a gargantuan issue and I don't have any
> earth-shattering revalations here.
> There are now commercials running about once an hour (or so
> I estimate) promoting terrestrial radio. I've heard them on
> almost every major FM Houston radio station--KILT, KBXX,
> KRBE, KODA, KHMX, KMJQ, KKBQ, KTBZ and so on.
> The ad goes something like--"Radio, you shouldn't have to
> pay for it. This message brought to you by America's 13,000
> local radio stations who believe some things were just meant
> to be free."
>
> Terrestrial radio has never run mass ads like this at this
> frequency before. I find it interesting. Nothing major, I
> know, but enough for some light discussion.
>
> You can't miss these commercials. They're getting played
> more often.
>

 

[TheDingo]

> This is not a gargantuan issue and I don't have any
> earth-shattering revalations here.
> There are now commercials running about once an hour (or so
> I estimate) promoting terrestrial radio. I've heard them on
> almost every major FM Houston radio station--KILT, KBXX,
> KRBE, KODA, KHMX, KMJQ, KKBQ, KTBZ and so on.
> The ad goes something like--"Radio, you shouldn't have to
> pay for it. This message brought to you by America's 13,000
> local radio stations who believe some things were just meant
> to be free."
>
> Terrestrial radio has never run mass ads like this at this
> frequency before. I find it interesting. Nothing major, I
> know, but enough for some light discussion.
>
> You can't miss these commercials. They're getting played
> more often.
>
I hear them over here in alabama too, on Nashvile, Birmingham and the local Huntsville stations<P ID="signature">______________

<div align="center"><a href="http://wrcf.tk">

</P></span></P></span>
http://wolf103.tk
http://www.myspace.com/1039thewolf</P>

 

[Chatterati]

Here's the answer: NAB

On November 30, 2005, the National Association of Broadcasters, the trade association, issued a press release about their new ad campaign called:
"Radio: You Shouldn't Have to Pay for It," which promotes the strengths of free, over-the-air radio.

The new ads highlight the compelling audio entertainment that's available on
local radio and close with the tag "Radio: You Shouldn't Have to Pay for It."

A quote from the press release:
"The new spots remind listeners of the 24-7 news coverage, compelling personalities, weather and traffic bulletins, local regional and national talk, local sports, and other programming, all of which is available for free on local radio," said NAB Radio Board Chairman and President and CEO of Entercom Communications, David Field.

The radio industry has united to voluntarily air the new spots on radio stations across the country in December 2005 and January 2006.
Titles:
Baseball :30
Heavy Metal :30
Leading Man :30
Lewd Act :30
Steroids :30
Traffic :30
Weather :30



> It's also the first 2-3 weeks in January. Very little
> business. PSA's are king and that's what you're hearing.
> Every time you hear one of these spots, it's really an
> unsold commercial spot. You'll be hearing less and less of
> these as the weeks go on. One thing however, it seems that
> the stations are making a collective effort to promote
> "free" radio where they would normally just run a mish-mash
> of different PSA's (Public Service Announcments) during this
> slow business period.
>
> --Adguy
>

 

[radiodial]

Re: Here's the answer: NAB

>
> A quote from the press release:
>
> "The new spots remind listeners of the 24-7 news coverage,
> compelling personalities, weather and traffic bulletins,
> local regional and national talk, local sports, and other
> programming, all of which is available for free on local
> radio," said NAB Radio Board Chairman and President and CEO
> of Entercom Communications, David Field.
>

What's omitted from that press release is more telling than what is listed. The Chairman of NAB does not specifically list music as a strength of terrestrial radio. It appears that even he knows that the writing is on the wall for terrestrial radio being a source for music.

JMHO

 

[UncleGuido]

Re: Here's the answer: NAB

Well, at least we can't say that terrestrial radio management is in denial! Between iPods, mp3 players, satellite radio, and now all the accessories that are designed to go with all these items, terrestrial radio's days as a major venue for music are just about over. Before long, all your local radio stations will have been relegated to the status of "repeater for the network".

 

[ericspin]

Re: Here's the answer: NAB

As my friends and I say, instead of "Radio should be free" it should be "Radio should be good". I'm talking mainly about music radio, of course.

 

[radiodial]

Re: Here's the answer: NAB

> As my friends and I say, instead of "Radio should be free"
> it should be "Radio should be good". I'm talking mainly
> about music radio, of course.
>

Agreed! It's sort of like they are saying: "We know music radio sucks and we can't do much about it, but hey, at least it's free!"

And of course, it's not free because the listener must wade through commericals.

 

[slaterradio]

Re: Here's the answer: NAB

Of course the major point here is that the ad campaign was announced some time ago (I couldn't remember how long ago--but it was a year, thanks to responses on this thread), but they haven't been running.

I think I first started hearing these "PSA's" in late Nov., early Dec. so I think that pretty much dilutes the theory or conclusion that this is merely free or unpaid PSA's at work.

I think the desired affect is obvious, but I can't help but laugh when I hear these announcements because the terrestrial radio listener is at the mercy of whatever his/her city's population does.
If a certain target demo is trending towards moving elsewhere or a certain demo is pouring in (i.e. Hispanics), radio will aim to suit those who can garner the most ad money.

Terrestrial radio is free to the listener and I can gaurantee everyone on this board that "free" is a major selling point. You can sell a lot of people on just listening to the local FM/AM in their factory-installed car radios because it all comes free of charge.
We quibble and argue about what sucks and what doesn't on Houston's FM/AM dial, but for many of us, abandoning commercial radio isn't worth the monthly fee.

My guess is they'll keep playing these ads more and more throughout Jan. and possibly into Feb.
It will be interesting to see how long they plan to drag this campaign out.

Some DJ on a Tulsa station did a 2 minute rambling on how t. radio was great because it was free (was there 3 days, the week after Christmas). This is the only occassion I've actually heard a DJ do this. I wonder what "motivated" him to do that. It'll also be interesting to see if this campaign goes beyond ads.