I disagree when it comes to 950. That signal is arguably one of the better AM signals in Seattle. If they want to turn in a license, that isn't the one to look to. With that being said, I don't see a simulcast lasting forever. If they've got something else to put on 950 they might as well do it with sports programming on a powerhouse signal like 93.3.
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Lowest KUBE ratings ever, in December PPM
- Thread starter crainbebo
- Start date
You're right. Nobody is turning in licenses that still carry debt.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Here's what I think, and it's only my opinion, no research to back it up.
I think that as stopsets became less frequent and simultaneously longer in length, listeners developed a mindset -- not inappropriately, given the circumstances -- that the first minute of a stop is just the first of many, and that is why the research David cites shows that result.
I've had client stations (admittedly, not in PPM markets*) that did multiple stopsets scattered through the hour but kept the length down to three minutes each time. As listeners discovered, after tuning away and then coming back because every station is running their stops at the same time, that the stopset already ended on the original station while they were tuning around in vain, they tended to stay put when that first spot aired ... which just confirmed that the break was relatively short. (That is undoubtedly the reason for those "two-minute guarantees" that BigA cited earlier.)
In other words, we did it to ourselves, and do a very poor job of delivering an audience to our advertising clients as a result.
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*-My friend Mike McVay, when I told him this, said that's a good tactic for diary-based markets or unrated ones, but the existing system works in PPM markets.
Well, I guess I was wrong here. As for what's next for 950, they're either going to move the programming on 1090 to 950 and flip 1090 to sports betting, or 950 will go sports betting itself. Btw, Audacy doesn't have to put BetQL on HD in Portland, they've got a 910 that's running ESPN around the clock despite that network also being on 1080 when that station isn't in local programming. I've never understood that strategy.
That's essentially true. You have so many units an hour, so clustering spots helps from breaking up a quarter hour. Back in the day, we used to try to keep listeners held over through the break, so we'd tease something interesting 'coming up'. Given the length of breaks today, you can't get away with that as easily. By running more breaks and shorter breaks, there's a better than even chance you'll cycle through a decent portion of that audience which either way, won't come out the other side.
Even diary markets are still concerned about quarter hours. Unless you run really short breaks, it's likely you could kill yourself with break tune-out by having too many spread out. Even if short, as David mentioned, some listeners punch away within seconds of the first spot rolling.
I wouldn't go that far. Now with competition from digital, radio spots don't hold the value they used to. That's why you need to simply run more volume (impressions) for the same revenue as twenty years ago with less units per hour. To me, that's not a fault of radio. That's simply the result of significantly more competition for the same ad dollar.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
That was my experience with my client stations, but only initially. Over time the audience realized we weren't away from music for more than two or three minutes at a time and stopped cycling out.
My philosophy with shorter, more frequent breaks has always been to fill one to its pre-determined limit before opening another stopset. And I try to space them for minimal impact. (One thing I perceive as a problem with the long stopset is that we also tend to schedule them close to each other ... IMO that causes a higher percentage of listeners cycling out and not coming back: "Oh, no, ANOTHER commercial break already?")
One thing ESPN is good about is varying the length of their stopsets. And they'll tell you in advance that this next break is only :30. That alone is reason enough to stay IF the show is worth watching, and if they tease it well. That's another thing that's often missing in radio. Tell the folks what you're doing after the commercials. It's not a secret. You know what you're doing, so give them a reason to come back or stick around.
Damn I should be charging for this!
A penny for your thoughts, or are you giving your two cents?
Actually, for your advice, I would pay quite a lot of dollars.
If Audacy brings BetQL into Portland, it'll definitely be going to HD since both 910 and 1080 are simulcast on HD subchannels anyway - 1080 on KWJJ-HD2; 910 on KWJJ-HD3. If they flip 910, it'll likely be simulcast on KWJJ-HD3. The same goes with Seattle, since Audacy doesn't have any AMs there - though they could strike a deal to get BetQL broadcast on AM.
And for stations/groups that cluster their breaks into the back-half of the hour, I believe the philosophy is to go ahead and cluster the breaks into the final 25 minutes. That gives you from the TOH through the first mega-break of consecutive quarter hour listening opportunities. Especially important for PPM.
If you split the first half up with shorter, or even variable breaks, is there a risk you might lose more quarter hour listening opportunities on the front and back end of the hour? Sure, you might hold listeners through the shorter break, but if you don't, it's a missed opportunity.
Back in ye olden diary days, I worked at a place where there was a max of 4 units (not minutes) per break, because they had research that said that people would punch out if you played a 5th spot. The listener doesn't say "oh, that's 2 :15 spots," they just know they heard 2 commercials. So the rules were to produce spots well to hold the listener and play the highest production value first.
3 stopsets an hour, max 12 units, but there were always 4 songs between breaks and when spot loads were light the first stopset would go away and fill songs were added. We always broke at the bottom of the hour, but if spots were light it was just for a :30 promo. It didn't feel like we were playing as many spots because the breaks were short... even though this clock was introduced to add 2 minutes of inventory an hour, because we used to break for 2 sets of 5.
Whether or not this is smart in the PPM era is for people with bigger desks than mine, but I still believe that producing compelling commercials that fit the station helps keep people tuned in. Every facet of the product matters.
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That's an offer that's always available to advertisers. We've offered single sponsorships for entire hours, just like public radio. But the advertisers want to buy impressions, so they want multiple spots per hour. The only reason for the number of spots is that no one is willing to pay the hourly rate.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Absolutely no argument here, John. That is a philosophy that I have never stopped espousing.
What bugs me are spots that repeat a phone number umpteen times just to pad out the spot. Couldn't someone have written better copy for the preceding seconds so that wouldn't seem necessary?
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Your owner shared a philosophy with (or perhaps was inspired by) the late, legendary Bill Drake, who instituted that policy at KHJ in Los Angeles, back in 1965.
My first O&O was Top 40. In the market it was in, all spots were 30's, and the songs songs were on average a bit over 2:30 in length. So our format was 20 songs an hour, 10 minutes of commercials, or one 30" spot after ever song. Backsell was short, jingle out of spot, song intro or program content such as the afternoon "5 plus 7 of the Day" (the top 12) and so on. 30 share in a 42 station market.
I got sucked in to the placement of spots in the middle of each quarter hour when I went to my first Arbitron market. I never dared try the one song, one spot in the US... mostly because spots here are nearly all 60's.
A couple of US stations have tried "never more than two minutes from music" but it was done on some poor formats, such as an a couple of alternative stations run by an MBA and not a programmer...
Of course, part of why that worked is that the Pulse and Hooper did not have extensive demo breaks, if any. KHJ won by massing teens and 18-24's on 930 AM, and that carried them. It is hard to buy around a 15 share or an 18 share.
I did 8 minutes in four 2 minute breaks in '79 in a Top 20 market. One book had a 42 share. We pushed the rates up, but never could even get a rate commensurate with the share although it came close; go too many "I can't give you 100% of the budget or the client would think you were bribing me..."
Today, with computer generated buys, that has no chance to be done. It's all math.
The error is to look at minutes and quarter hours and not at days and weeks. Big stopsets can get you a few extra minutes per incident, but it prevents people from staying with you all day. In other words, the long stopsets gain you a few minutes, but kill your getting more hours.
But other than the occasional doctor's office or retired 70YO white males listening to right wing talk, how many listeners leave a single station on all day? Most listeners 18+ have the attention span of a gnat, mainly because there are a lot more choices for listening.
There are three issues here I want to address:
1. Spot load, I can't remember the last time I heard even six spots in a break. It's true that most breaks are about six minutes in a typical clock, but that's typically a mix of 30 and 60 second spots, resulting in the number of spots being much higher.
2. I've never liked stations that do 10 or 12 in a row, followed by a bunch of spots. I've come in a song or two before the end of that long block, sat through the first commercial break and the next couple songs, but it's a major turnoff to me to only get one or two songs when I'm expecting a solid half hour or so of music.
3. Why is it that everyone takes their breaks at the same time? A few years ago, iHeart Portland had an interesting strategy, having the AC and the rhythmic take breaks at the same time, but the CHR taking the traditional opposite breaks. The problem with the way those breaks were positioned though is that all the competition would also be in commercial break. Why not position yourself so that you're in music when your competition is in commercial?
1. Spot load, I can't remember the last time I heard even six spots in a break. It's true that most breaks are about six minutes in a typical clock, but that's typically a mix of 30 and 60 second spots, resulting in the number of spots being much higher.
2. I've never liked stations that do 10 or 12 in a row, followed by a bunch of spots. I've come in a song or two before the end of that long block, sat through the first commercial break and the next couple songs, but it's a major turnoff to me to only get one or two songs when I'm expecting a solid half hour or so of music.
3. Why is it that everyone takes their breaks at the same time? A few years ago, iHeart Portland had an interesting strategy, having the AC and the rhythmic take breaks at the same time, but the CHR taking the traditional opposite breaks. The problem with the way those breaks were positioned though is that all the competition would also be in commercial break. Why not position yourself so that you're in music when your competition is in commercial?
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