Riddle Me This????

[progressivetalk]

In May, I posted a story on the problems Rush Limbaugh was having with keeping advertisers, mainly due to the "Flush Rush" web site on Facebook. As a member of the website, I get to read the responses people get from advertisers who seemed flabbergasted that their ads are still airing on Limbaugh's show, and can't understand it and don't condone it. As someone who had a brief stint in radio, I worked weekends and the station I worked for at the time was heavily into sports and I would play the local ads every other inning, quarter, etc, and the local advertisers were almost all the same. I know that local spots are sold by salespeople and I presume that they have a contract with the station to pay a certain amount per ad and I also presume that they have some control over when and where the ads can run? I know if I aired ads on a radio station that I would be aware of the programming on the station and not air ads on a station that did not fit my personal or political views or air them in a place that I was comfortable with.

Are the radio stations that still air "El Rushblo" gaming the advertisers to air spots where they want or are the advertisers who get caught airing ads on his show and when exposed, lie about how outraged they are? It seems that a lot of companies whose ads run on the Limbaugh show just can't fathom how they got there, since they claim they would never air an ad on America's "premeiere hate-monger". Also, it seems that Glenn Beck had some sort of "death-bed conversion", and is promising to air a less hate-filled program. Perhaps old Beck sees the damage being inflicted upon Limbaugh and has decided to act like a civiilzed human being, instead of a total moron?

 

[reelyreal]

These companies are/were likely buying ROS (Run of Schedule,) combo buys, or were getting bonused on the AM talker when buying the FM music station. Stations often buy run of schedule (5am-8pm) to save some money. The station guarantees a certain percentage of the ads will run in drive time, and the rest run where time is available. Hand-picking dayparts incurs extra charges. Advertisers are usually willing to pay extra for drive guarantees, but the rest of the spots are ROS or scheduled 12a-12a for a lesser charge on a 3-month, 6-month, or yearly contract. If an agency or buyer is picking the station based on rankers, the company may have no idea that they're running spots during Rush.

Many groups with "throw-away" AMs in small-medium markets also sell spots on the FM, and then throw in "bonus" free spots on the AM to sweeten the pot to get the FM buy. These companies may know that they're on the FM, but may not know anything about the AM that they're running on. They just know they're getting more spots, and that they're on the station they're REALLY interested in.

Look at it this way: If you're the CEO of a multi-market large company, it's not only plausible but likely that you're not familiar with the hour-by-hour programming of all of the media in your advertising mix.