Having been involved with automated stations for years, I know the grief that these can cause and how quickly something becomes "stale". A perfect example is the ESPN stations owned by Times-Shamrock Communications. They run a "business blog" weekly with business tips and try to tie these into local sales or advertising. Trouble is when someone forgets to rotate or update these tips or the person in charge is either fired, on vacation, or is absent minded. This blog has now been running for 5 weeks straight with the same 60 second business tip.. hour after hour, day after day for 45 days! You want a business tip?... stay fresh.
Now with internet stations... I had the opportunity to listen to some of KRZ's internet offerings.. lame, disjointed, and cheap sounding. OK, the music is what you tune in for, that's fine because that's what you expect.... but the commercial breaks! First off, you hear the same 15 second ad for sales promoting the offer to advertise on the internet 3,4 and sometimes 5 times during a break.. then Flo from Progressive, then a comedy break... all this to fill the time during this commercial break that they can't sell... so you're pounded with dead air.. the same sales pitch over and over.. network spots and short comedy. I know they keep hawking that internet radio listening has been increasing exponentially in the northeast PA area.. but so has the garbage between breaks.
Observation: nothing has changed in this business.. Automated or Internet, both formats suck.. they're unattended, uninteresting, annoying at times and used only as a means to squeeze evey penny they possibly can from a client.. hey for $5 more per spot we'll throw in our internet advestising and one of our AM stations! They only thing that has increased exponentially is the ways that both of these formats have found ways to self destruct.
Now with internet stations... I had the opportunity to listen to some of KRZ's internet offerings.. lame, disjointed, and cheap sounding. OK, the music is what you tune in for, that's fine because that's what you expect.... but the commercial breaks! First off, you hear the same 15 second ad for sales promoting the offer to advertise on the internet 3,4 and sometimes 5 times during a break.. then Flo from Progressive, then a comedy break... all this to fill the time during this commercial break that they can't sell... so you're pounded with dead air.. the same sales pitch over and over.. network spots and short comedy. I know they keep hawking that internet radio listening has been increasing exponentially in the northeast PA area.. but so has the garbage between breaks.
Observation: nothing has changed in this business.. Automated or Internet, both formats suck.. they're unattended, uninteresting, annoying at times and used only as a means to squeeze evey penny they possibly can from a client.. hey for $5 more per spot we'll throw in our internet advestising and one of our AM stations! They only thing that has increased exponentially is the ways that both of these formats have found ways to self destruct.