Boston Globe Trashes Local Radio

[Signpost]

Big difference between "nearly all" and one.

Our loads reflected the loads of all the major stations in the Boston market. CBS & Clear Channel, and Greater Media all jacked up the loads - each rationalizing the other's move.

We have found that the length of the stopset doesn't matter. It can be one spot an hour or 20. The result is the same. A portion of the audience changes stations. The majority stay. Those who object to commercials don't care about the number. We cut back spotload 25% and they didn't even notice. In fact they thought we increased the number.

I'm aware of that research, and the anomalies of spotload vs. perception of spotload. I'm dubious that length doesn't matter however. Perhaps in the car, when the preset is right at your fingertips, that portion of the audience instantly changes stations on spot #1. But as I play the radio at home in the background, the radio is not in immediate reach, but after around 4 spots, i stop what i'm doing and go to change the station - unless i hear a announcement that "we're back to music in 60 seconds". Otherwise i presume i'm in for 9 more minutes of spots, which violates the listeners *and* the clients advertising in my opinion.


WCTK does 12 in a row (Providence)

Can't possibly do that every hour ?

 

[TheBigA]

CBS & Clear Channel, and Greater Media all jacked up the loads - each rationalizing the other's move.

You said they doubled it. I was with CBS at the time and I know we didn't double the spotload at music stations.

And my point is I disagree with the connection you make between spotload and the iPod. The public has had portable music devices for 30 years, car radios have been paired with all kinds of music devices, and they've always been an option for the escape from commercials. Had spotloads remained the same, listeners still would have used their iPods. And the iPod really had no noticable effect on the size of the audience that listens to OTA radio. I believe satellite made more of a difference at that time, taking away as much as 3% of the audience, but even that has dropped off in recent years. The point is that virtually anything we do on the air, from playing a song to talking too much, can lead to listener tune-out. It's not just spotload.

 

[magpie]

WCTK does 12 in a row (Providence)

Can't possibly do that every hour ?

But they do! At least whenever I'm listening....except for the count down shows which have their own clocks, and probably the morning show, which I never listen to. It's great. When I'm in the mood for country* I bounce back and forth between "Southern New England's Country, Cat Country Ninety-Eight Point One! Providence!" and the very Greater Media-sounding WKLB. (I love the Greater Media sound, too.) CTK has live DJs who vary in talent, ability, and experience and it's fun to hear them evolve. They changed liners and no longer say WCTK, which I miss. Nothing like Bob "Madman" Maddox saying "WCTK!" And they definitely differ from WKLB in what they'll play.

Though I can't always get a clear signal on WCTK, I'll always check there first because of that 12 in a row.

*Okay, so it's not real country--I know that. I used to work on Hillbilly at Harvard. But it's the available format around here, so I enjoy what's available.

 

[MarcB]

The stations owned by COX no matter what the format all seem to do 50 minutes in a row of music, which means 10 minutes in a row of commercials. These are 3 stations I've heard with the liners "50 minutes of the best "name your format of music" in a row:

WPLR New Haven Classic Rock
WEZN Bridgeport AC-CHRish (they seem to have an identity crisis. Sometimes when I tune in they sound ACish. Other times they seem CHRish)
WBLI Long Island CHR.

CBS's HOT 93.7 in Hartford does 10 mins of commercials in a row then about 2 mins of promos (where it's going down at the club or where the street team is gonna be). They do "18 Jams in a row (and have since signing on in 2001). That is a tune out factor for me. From where I live in the west end of Bristol, Connecticut to where my parents used to live in Southington was a 12-15 minute drive. (Depending of traffic). That means if HOT 93.7 is just starting their 10 minutes stop set when I begin the drive to my parents house I won't get to hear any music during the entire drive. Luckily you know when they're going to a break. There will be a liner - HOT 93.7 - Blazin' 18 Jams is a row Next." That's how you know they're going to a commercial break.

 

[Deleted User]

IIRC back at the end of 2005, Clear Channel tried to break from the pack and put a limit on the number of spots and promo's that could be played in an hour, and the number of spots that could be played during a break. They called it "less is more" and it was a way to retain listeners.

I don't know if they dropped the plan after Bain/Lee came in and took over.

 

[motormouth]

they can call all they want, name me one station where the on air person answers the phone these days?

Unless it is time for the prize pigs to call, nobody answers the phone anymore.

95.9 WATD does

 

[Don Juan]

We have found that the length of the stopset doesn't matter. It can be one spot an hour or 20. The result is the same. A portion of the audience changes stations. The majority stay. Those who object to commercials don't care about the number.

I know that's the current thinking, and there is a research project that is being touted to prove such.....but I still don't buy it.

Maybe I'm old school....but knowing how listeners listen...expecially in the car...I can't believe that it doesn't mater.

 

[TheBigA]

I can't believe that it doesn't mater.

Allow me to explain further...

For those who hate commercials, one or two is the same as 12. They're gone regardless of the number. And it's easiest to do so, as you say, in the car. But that's not where the majority of listening occurs.

For everyone else, they stay regardless of the number. This is particularly true for news, talk, and sports, where there are 20% more commercials than on music stations.

 

[Don Juan]

I can't believe that it doesn't mater.

Allow me to explain further...

You don't have to explain. I understand the point....I just don't buy it.

I've even read the widely circulated research "Ehat happens when the music stops".....

Call me stubborn, I still dont' buy it. ;-)

 

[Signpost]

And the iPod really had no noticable effect on the size of the audience that listens to OTA radio.
Overall OTA radio listenership started declining steadily in the late '90s - hitting "lowest listenership levels in 40 years" around 2005 - with the greatest dropoff occurring in the teen demographic. mp3 players are not the direct culprit, but the ability to carry thousands of songs in a pocket has definitely changed the paradigm of music consumption. I suspect the "we play anything" Jack formats might not have emerged had the iPod not changed the mindset of the consumer.

The point is that virtually anything we do on the air, from playing a song to talking too much, can lead to listener tune-out. It's not just spotload.

Programming for PPM has forced stations to really sharpen execution. But excessive spotloads lead the way for tuneout - or else we wouldn't be seeing more and more commercial free blocks now being touted. Spots integrate easily into WBZ AM's programming - playing a spot every 2 minutes doesn't sound excessive there, but you don't hear 10 minute blocks of spots on talk formats. Research that shows listeners will sit through 12 consecutive minutes of commercials defies common sense: these listeners probably don't have access to the radio dial, and torturing them this way sure doesn't endear your station to them. In CC's "less is more" initiative, spot blocks were broken up so fewer spots ran consecutively, positioned as "Back to the music faster". When listening to radio at home, I have a threshold of 4 consecutive spots before I will physically get up seek another station. The car is a different beast entirely - with the controls built into the steering wheel, a tune out doesn't last for more and a second and a half.

 

[TheBigA]

And the iPod really had no noticable effect on the size of the audience that listens to OTA radio.
Overall OTA radio listenership started declining steadily in the late '90s - hitting "lowest listenership levels in 40 years" around 2005 - with the greatest dropoff occurring in the teen demographic.

That's not what the Arbitron numbers are saying. I had a discussion on this very subject today, and what the latest numbers say is teen TSL is down, but not listenership. And TSL has been declining since 1989.

mp3 players are not the direct culprit, but the ability to carry thousands of songs in a pocket has definitely changed the paradigm of music consumption.

First of all, most people don't carry "thousands of songs," but rather hundreds of songs. Second of all, portable music devices have been available for 30 years, and could be partly responsible for the drop in TSL numbers 21 years ago. All the studies I see (and I see a lot of them) lead me to believe that consumers use a lot of media, from OTA radio to internet radio to mp3 personal entertainment to TV to video games to cell phones. Most of those options didn't exist ten years ago. But only a small number, perhaps 5-8%, use no OTA radio at all.

Research that shows listeners will sit through 12 consecutive minutes of commercials defies common sense:

Every pizza parlor I've ever walked in has the radio on, they all play the local OTA commercial oldies station, and no one changes the station when the commercials come on. And that would be picked up by the PPM meter every customer carried into that shop. So that's just one example. The point, and it's hard for some to understand or accept, is that the majority of people don't listen with such intensity that the commercial is even recognized. If so, it's often easier to simply let it run. We see that a minority will change the station, especially in a car. But it's rare that a music station will run 12 minutes of commercials. They probably run 12 units. Music stations have been systematically cutting back on commercials for the past 3 years.

Your personal experience probably differs. Mine probably does to. But I don't carry a PPM.

 

[Don Juan]

Music stations have been systematically cutting back on commercials for the past 3 years.

This certainly isn't my observation.

Most (if not all) of the stations I am involved with have been INCREASING their spot load since 2008.

 

[TheBigA]

Most (if not all) of the stations I am involved with have been INCREASING their spot load since 2008.

I don't know how...we just went through two years of 20% advertising drops. That HAS to show up on the air in unsold inventory.

And I look at national reports that clearly say the spotload on music stations is down. Commercial-free hours, even commercial-free DAYS, and there have been articles questioning the demonizing, so to speak, of commercials by radio stations themselves in the use of "commercial-free" promotions.

I'm not saying a few stations aren't sticking to their guns and taking all they can. But it's been tough these last two years, and the first quarter of this year was brutal.

 

[Don Juan]

Most (if not all) of the stations I am involved with have been INCREASING their spot load since 2008.

I don't know how...we just went through two years of 20% advertising drops. That HAS to show up on the air in unsold inventory.

No it doesn't...it just shows up in cheaper($$) commercials.

That's why stations have increased the load...to make up for the lack of pricing power.

 

[TheBigA]

No it doesn't...it just shows up in cheaper($$) commercials.

That's why stations have increased the load...to make up for the lack of pricing power.

That makes no sense. You don't increase inventory when prices are down. You cut inventory in order to improve pricing. Advertisers have cut their budgets. Increasing the number of spots at a cheaper price implies they are still spending the same amount. That hasn't been the case for three years.

I'd love to know who has been increasing their spotload, by how much, and in which daypart. Because CBS, Clear Channel, and Greater Media have not.

 

[Don Juan]

No it doesn't...it just shows up in cheaper($$) commercials.

That's why stations have increased the load...to make up for the lack of pricing power.

That makes no sense. You don't increase inventory when prices are down.

You cut inventory in order to improve pricing.

Only when you have pricing power behind you. That's not the case now.

Greater Media definitely has.

I don't know about CC, but WBZ has increase units as well.
(Take a count as to how many they have in the 7AM hour.)

 

[TheBigA]

I don't know about CC, but WBZ has increase units as well.
(Take a count as to how many they have in the 7AM hour.)

I've been talking strictly about music stations, not news, talk, or sports.

 

[Don Juan]

I don't know about CC, but WBZ has increase units as well.
(Take a count as to how many they have in the 7AM hour.)

I've been talking strictly about music stations, not news, talk, or sports.

Talk to anyone from Greater Media lately?

 

[Signpost]

there have been articles questioning the demonizing, so to speak, of commercials by radio stations themselves in the use of "commercial-free" promotions.

Yeah, i've always felt that was actually unwise - sort of biting one of the hands that feeds you to appease the other hand (listeners). A lot smaller niche stations run liners asking listeners to support the advertisers as they are the lifeblood of the station.

Can't comment on the current state of long stop sets - i quickly change the station unless the spots are really well done - so I have no idea how many consecutive units run any more. I no longer work at a physical station so I can't just go check the logs.

However a point I think I originally wanted to make is this: I think we can all agree that all the major Boston music stations played fewer units per hour before consolidation compared to now. Billing was proportionately less. Yet these stations, including the one I was at, had a live jock or board op on 24 hours a day - in our case a live staff 24/7 on both and AM and an FM. We also had either a receptionist or a security guard at the front desk 24/7. We did *huge* promotions, threw lavish parties..

How is it stations were living so large on much smaller margins?

Even before the market tanked, there were massive layoffs, voicetracking, automation, collective contesting in lieu of local contests, all sorts of money saving moves *despite* the fact that stations were billing far more due to the increased inventory.

More commercials + cutbacks = cannibalizing your property just as more media options are invading your turf.

 

[TheBigA]

How is it stations were living so large on much smaller margins?

You can't compare then and now. The house I bought a few years ago cost more than twice as much as the house I bought in the early 90s. And I've gone through my expenses, such as gas, electric, and insurance, and they all tripled since then. Meanwhile, music taste has splintered, and as you say there are more media options.

So OK, let's cut back on commercial minutes. How about 6 minutes an hour. How do you pay for it? Increase the ad rates? Really? At a time when listenership is flat? How do you justify it to the advertiser?

OK, let's hire more staff. How do you pay for it? You just cut the commercials.

The squeeze play is on. Costs are increasing, everyone wants to get paid, but everyone also wants to get things for free. Everyone seems to have ideas for more staff and fewer commercials. How do you pay for it?