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Embedded Infomercials

W

wadio

An unfortunate trend I've noticed lately is using a 20-minute segment of a talk show to pitch an infomercial that's carried on the station.

Rick Fowler did it this morning on WMAL, where the "guest" essentially pitched his retirement show. John Potter, who does a good Saturday show on KKFT, has a regular 20-minute segment with a "guest" who pitches reverse mortgages. Mark Simone on WOR does this occasionally (usually shorter,) but the practice is especially bad on weekends when actual content is scarce among all the full infomercials.

Are there regulations about this practice? For example: a 1-minute spot must be 60-seconds.
 
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This was happening some 20 years ago when WWDB, Philadelphia was a talk station and it turned out their talk show guests paid to be on to promote something. And public television stations run programs in the off hours that look for all the world like infomercials and donate to the station to get the guy's diet plan or workout.
 
Everyone does things in their own self-interest. Guests appear on talk shows to hawk their own books or podcasts or products they're selling. That's why they appear on talk shows. All of the guests on late-night talk shows are promoting things. In this case, the guest is promoting a show that exists on the same radio station. What's wrong with that? The sports talk station I listen to uses hosts of other sports shows as guests all the time. They answer questions and give their views, but also promote their shift on the station. It happens all the time.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration buys a lot of commercials on radio and TV. The topics range from drunk driving to wearing seat belts. These are paid ads that are sold by station sales teams. As part of the spot sale, NHTSA asks that representatives of their agency become guests on talk shows and answer questions about driving safely. You've likely seen or heard these interviews without knowing what they are.
 
TheBigA said:
Everyone does things in their own self-interest.
Click to expand...
But some are only allowed to operate with a license to serve the public interest, convenience and necessity. Yes, somebody might want to go on a show to promote something but there is a difference getting booked because the producers determine the appearance would interest the audience and would be in the best interest of the show and an appearance that is basically pay to play and not clearly labeled as such.
 
Two more examples: today on WABC, both Jeanine Piro and Roger Stone had a segment with a representative of Colonial Metals Group (a sponsor.)

If this kind of thing continues, talk radio won't be worth listening to.
 


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