AM drive on The Drive drives me away...

[JohnW]

About a week and a half ago, I tried The Drive (WDVI, nee WVOR) for the first time a little before 7 AM on my way to work. Music was on, but ended about a minute later. This led into a string of eight - that's right, eight - commercials all in a row.

I used to own a retail business and advertised on radio. My point is this: if I were buying ad time on that station, I'd be furious if my ads were at the tail end of that mess. Who would be left to listen? It seems to me that anyone still there must be oblivious to the radio being on and the ad is wasted.

I gave them another chance yesterday morning before 8. Seven in a row, including an ad for an ad - "...brought to you by Bob Johnson Chevrolet..." leading into a Bob Johnson commercial.

Goodbye, Drive.

 

[Mark_Giardina]

About a week and a half ago, I tried The Drive (WDVI, nee WVOR) for the first time a little before 7 AM on my way to work. Music was on, but ended about a minute later. This led into a string of eight - that's right, eight - commercials all in a row.

I used to own a retail business and advertised on radio. My point is this: if I were buying ad time on that station, I'd be furious if my ads were at the tail end of that mess. Who would be left to listen? It seems to me that anyone still there must be oblivious to the radio being on and the ad is wasted.

I gave them another chance yesterday morning before 8. Seven in a row, including an ad for an ad - "...brought to you by Bob Johnson Chevrolet..." leading into a Bob Johnson commercial.

Goodbye, Drive.

When I used to work downtown my commute time was around 15 to 20 minutes.

One day I decided to listen to one of the more popular FM stations, just for a change of pace from my normal listening habit. During the time I left my house until I arrived to work I heard just one song. The rest of the time were commercials and a voice-tracking announcer telling me about the upcoming ten songs in a row. No traffic reports, no weather, no local news...just ads for car dealers, lawyers and more car dealers.

Needless to say that station is no longer set on my car radio. Thank you very much but I will go back to listening to National Public Radio.

 

[Yeziknoradio]

About a week and a half ago, I tried The Drive (WDVI, nee WVOR) for the first time a little before 7 AM on my way to work. Music was on, but ended about a minute later. This led into a string of eight - that's right, eight - commercials all in a row.

I used to own a retail business and advertised on radio. My point is this: if I were buying ad time on that station, I'd be furious if my ads were at the tail end of that mess. Who would be left to listen? It seems to me that anyone still there must be oblivious to the radio being on and the ad is wasted.

I gave them another chance yesterday morning before 8. Seven in a row, including an ad for an ad - "...brought to you by Bob Johnson Chevrolet..." leading into a Bob Johnson commercial.

Goodbye, Drive.

If the tail end is on the average wake up spot, they're ok for about a week.
The alarm clock will go off to the tail end of ads, but soon enough, the night before, the listener(s?) will either change their wake up time, or...worse...change the station.

 

[SpareChange]

Drive, Park or Reverse

About a week and a half ago, I tried The Drive (WDVI, nee WVOR) for the first time a little before 7 AM on my way to work. Music was on, but ended about a minute later. This led into a string of eight - that's right, eight - commercials all in a row.

I used to own a retail business and advertised on radio. My point is this: if I were buying ad time on that station, I'd be furious if my ads were at the tail end of that mess. Who would be left to listen? It seems to me that anyone still there must be oblivious to the radio being on and the ad is wasted.

I gave them another chance yesterday morning before 8. Seven in a row, including an ad for an ad - "...brought to you by Bob Johnson Chevrolet..." leading into a Bob Johnson commercial. Goodbye, Drive.

Apparently "Less Is More" doesn't apply to this particular Clear Channel station.

Over the years, I've observed listeners' endurance of commercial breaks and found that on average, four commercial units are the limit. It doesn't matter how well the commercials are produced or how creative they might be; after four units the chances of listeners staying with the radio station decrease dramatically.

One exception may be if the station has a market exclusive format such as Smooth Jazz, Classical or Country, where listeners are prone to stick around longer.

I've read other findings from national consultants that concur with my local observations. Equally important, most listeners do not differentiate station imaging, contest and music promos from commercials, they're all the same. If a radio station is running two stopsets an hour and each stopset is eight minutes plus a promo or a weather forecast, the TSL is likely to suffer.

I can only guess that when commercial breaks get dense, iPods and satellite radio can be a well-received alternative, especially with formats that target 12-34 year olds.

By the way, whatever happened to (creative) music-to-music segues? Remember when they offered a certain special effect to a station's appeal?

 

[Yeziknoradio]

Sparechange wrote:
"One exception may be if the station has a market exclusive format such as Smooth Jazz, Classical or Country, where listeners are prone to stick around longer."

I ask: Does WYRK run ads the same way Drive does?
If anything, WYRK *should* be a good example of your point...