Spot Breaks: The Death of Radio

[henry]

Something must be out of order with KOST's stream. I sure hope and pray that 6:30 spot set I heard didn't actually go out over the air on 103.5.

I realize CC is having hard times, but at some point advertisers aren't going to put up with this anymore. I'd certainly not be happy if my business was buried in a spot set that occupied over 10% of that hour's programming. If businesses do choose to keep putting up with this, at some point listeners will not.

What can radio do to end the madness? I know CC tried "Less is More" a few years back, but obviously that's over. Either we dump spots to lose money now, or keep running them and lose money later.

 

[landtuna]

I don't listen to KOST but we have similar long spot-sets here in Phoenix.

They are the fastest way to encourage your listener to hit the 'change station', or worse, the CD button.

For the advertiser, as you have stated, it is severe disappointment in being in an aggravating spot-set and usually right alongside your competitor.

 

[Bryan Simmons]

Something must be out of order with KOST's stream. I sure hope and pray that 6:30 spot set I heard didn't actually go out over the air on 103.5.

I realize CC is having hard times, but at some point advertisers aren't going to put up with this anymore. I'd certainly not be happy if my business was buried in a spot set that occupied over 10% of that hour's programming. If businesses do choose to keep putting up with this, at some point listeners will not.

What can radio do to end the madness? I know CC tried "Less is More" a few years back, but obviously that's over. Either we dump spots to lose money now, or keep running them and lose money later.

What was wrong with the stopset? Are you saying the the internet didn't correctly split away from the on air stream when the spot break started, or are you just talking about the length of the break? I would be interested to know what the actual problem is that you hint of. By the way, that break couldn't have happened at 6:30. We were in a music sweep at that time, however you should know that there can be quite a lag on the internet compared to where the actual on-air channel is. It can be a few minutes or half an hour depending on several factors.

 

[henry]

Bryan,

My comment was regarding the length of the break. I'm glad to hear C.C. isn't making you guys run 6:30 spot breaks, although I can't quite figure out what happened.

I heard KOST had switched from JAM to Reelworld One, so I logged onto KOST1035.com and clicked the "listen live" button.

In the first few seconds of the stream I heard a recorded 'More love songs on the KOST ...' promo into a spot set. The web stream dumped programming for internet spot inserts. Then nearly seven minutes of streaming ads, local programming kicked in and I heard a dedication and into the music set.

My reaction was "Wow! Clear Channel is making KOST run some ridiculously long spot sets now." When I worked at a middle-market Citadel cluster for a time, I remember running 4-5 minute spot sets, so 6.5 seemed reasonably possible, despite how crazy long that is.

Perhaps a streaming issue, then?

 

[KOOL Listener Lauren]

Sometimes streams run more spots in their breaks than what would be heard through a regular radio. Online streaming is an interesting, unpredictable thing. Sometimes more spots, sometimes less and an extra song thrown in to stay on-track.

I first thought you might have been referring to a particular spot you might have heard. You hear some crazy stuff from online advertisers every once in a while!

 

[calguy]

Bryan,

My comment was regarding the length of the break. I'm glad to hear C.C. isn't making you guys run 6:30 spot breaks, although I can't quite figure out what happened.

I heard KOST had switched from JAM to Reelworld One, so I logged onto KOST1035.com and clicked the "listen live" button.

In the first few seconds of the stream I heard a recorded 'More love songs on the KOST ...' promo into a spot set. The web stream dumped programming for internet spot inserts. Then nearly seven minutes of streaming ads, local programming kicked in and I heard a dedication and into the music set.

My reaction was "Wow! Clear Channel is making KOST run some ridiculously long spot sets now." When I worked at a middle-market Citadel cluster for a time, I remember running 4-5 minute spot sets, so 6.5 seemed reasonably possible, despite how crazy long that is.

Perhaps a streaming issue, then?

You tuned in to the Lovesongs on the Coast show which runs from 7-midnight. For now, this daypart does not use the horrible jingles from Reel World but continues to use jingles from JAM. How long this will last is anyones guess but the RW stuff will change the whole sound of the Lovesongs show and in my opinion ruin it. They are awful. They're still using JAM for their weather sets too. The length of stopsets on KOST isn't much different from most of the stations in LA. They only break twice an hour so that would make for longer sets. You want long? Check out KLOS. They do marathon breaks.

 

[LKellerIII]

I've wondered for years why advertisers are willing to tolerate being the 9th commercial in a 16 commercial stop set. Your ad can't have much impact under those circumstances. But I think the genie is out of the bottle on that - I doubt modern day listeners would tolerate the old Top 40 and MOR formats that gave us one or two songs followed by a 2 minute commercial break.

What I can no longer tolerate are the All News stations, which seem to give you no more than a 2 or 3 minutes of news before the commercial break. Unless I need a quick traffic report, my news is NPR, or nothing.

 

[landtuna]

What I can no longer tolerate are the All News stations, which seem to give you no more than a 2 or 3 minutes of news before the commercial break.

Or worse, merely a tease about an upcoming story. A 2-3 minute newsfest would be considered "long" by today's standards. No news radio for me either.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I've noticed that about KNX and (when they were news) KFWB. Its different on news only stations of course because there's so many differt topics to review but unlike a talk station, they just 'rip and read, so they can intersperse many commercials but only two at a time for each spot break.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

Following up on KFI's spot breaks, one of these days I am going to track an hour or two of John and Ken and log how much actual time they spend on content. They have so many commercials and the breaks are very predictable. They come back from the top of the hour news at around :07, next spot break at around :19 - :25, bottom of the hour break :29 - :34 or :35, next break at :45 - :54 (!!!), news at :59 or :00. Its ridiculous, and when they come back before the top of the hour, they spend 60 - 90 seconds previewing what the next hour's topic will be. So roughly without actually using a stop watch, I would guess that actual content would be around 31 - 32 minutes PER HOUR!! On Handel's show, for example, he goes into a break at 7:45 am and I turn on the CD in my car and come back at 7:55 without missing any program content.

 

[likeaboss]

I've wondered for years why advertisers are willing to tolerate being the 9th commercial in a 16 commercial stop set. Your ad can't have much impact under those circumstances.

The only show that I know of that actually had 16 minute long stopsets was Stern back on KLSX. Obviously, a shorter stopset would have been better, but lots of advertisers wanted to be on, and to many, it was worth paying for that 8th or 9th position. Ask Larry Miller over at Sit N Sleep. And remember, Stern had segments that went anywhere from 40 to 90 minutes in length, and that kept listeners around.

 

[LKellerIII]

I've wondered for years why advertisers are willing to tolerate being the 9th commercial in a 16 commercial stop set. Your ad can't have much impact under those circumstances.

The only show that I know of that actually had 16 minute long stopsets was Stern back on KLSX.

I wasn't a big Stern fan, but I listened enough times to remember that he'd do very long show segments without a break.

I remember hearing a segment he did with Ebert and Roper as guests. It was absolutely hysterical - and the interaction couldn't have been funnier if it was scripted.

The segment had already started when I got in the car for my morning commute, and it was still going (no break) when I got to work about 30 minutes later.

 

[stationi]

So roughly without actually using a stop watch, I would guess that actual content would be around 31 - 32 minutes PER HOUR!!

A quick check of iTunes for the J&K show podcast shows the average 1 hour show segment is only about 36 minutes.

 

[observer8057]

I've noticed that about KNX and (when they were news) KFWB. Its different on news only stations of course because there's so many differt topics to review but unlike a talk station, they just 'rip and read, so they can intersperse many commercials but only two at a time for each spot break.

Ahem! The hard-working members of Writers Guild, West would be disappointed to think that you are under the impression KNX is rip and read. Same for the former AFTRA-represented writers at now-defunct KFWB news. A heck of a lot of work goes into those newscasts. There are lots and lots of people behind the scenes to make sure the listener knows what is going on NOW. If you want long dissertations on flower arranging, and you have the time to wait for top stories, stick with NPR. They are very good at what they do, but to confuse NPR stations with all-news stations is a mistake in perception. They have very different goals. And, because it costs a HUGE amount of money to cover salaries, alone, at all-news stations--especially in these tough economic times--it is necessary, if aggravating, to run a heavy spot load.

 

[SuperRadioFan]

I've noticed that about KNX and (when they were news) KFWB. Its different on news only stations of course because there's so many differt topics to review but unlike a talk station, they just 'rip and read, so they can intersperse many commercials but only two at a time for each spot break.

Ahem! The hard-working members of Writers Guild, West would be disappointed to think that you are under the impression KNX is rip and read. Same for the former AFTRA-represented writers at now-defunct KFWB news. A heck of a lot of work goes into those newscasts. There are lots and lots of people behind the scenes to make sure the listener knows what is going on NOW. If you want long dissertations on flower arranging, and you have the time to wait for top stories, stick with NPR. They are very good at what they do, but to confuse NPR stations with all-news stations is a mistake in perception. They have very different goals. And, because it costs a HUGE amount of money to cover salaries, alone, at all-news stations--especially in these tough economic times--it is necessary, if aggravating, to run a heavy spot load.

Well .... EXCUUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEEEE!!!

OK I take back the rip & read. [I didn't mean that literally geeeez) And when the heck did I even mention NPR? (which I never listen to despite your very erroneous assumption)

Meanwhile you might need some lotion to soothe that thin skin.

 

[LKellerIII]

I've noticed that about KNX and (when they were news) KFWB. Its different on news only stations of course because there's so many differt topics to review but unlike a talk station, they just 'rip and read, so they can intersperse many commercials but only two at a time for each spot break.

Ahem! The hard-working members of Writers Guild, West would be disappointed to think that you are under the impression KNX is rip and read. Same for the former AFTRA-represented writers at now-defunct KFWB news. A heck of a lot of work goes into those newscasts. There are lots and lots of people behind the scenes to make sure the listener knows what is going on NOW. If you want long dissertations on flower arranging, and you have the time to wait for top stories, stick with NPR. They are very good at what they do, but to confuse NPR stations with all-news stations is a mistake in perception. They have very different goals. And, because it costs a HUGE amount of money to cover salaries, alone, at all-news stations--especially in these tough economic times--it is necessary, if aggravating, to run a heavy spot load.

Well .... EXCUUUUUUUUUUSE MEEEEEE!!!

OK I take back the rip & read. [I didn't mean that literally geeeez) And when the heck did I even mention NPR? (which I never listen to despite your very erroneous assumption)

Meanwhile you might need some lotion to soothe that thin skin.

I mentioned NPR back toward the beginning of this thread. But my point was not to compare the two - just to state that NPR has ruined me for commercial All News radio. The heavy spot loads may be justified due to the high cost of doing business, but I find listening to All News stations to be an exercise in frustration.

To paraphrase the old KFWB slogan: Give us 22 minutes, and we'll give you 14 commercials, 2 traffic reports, bunch of headlines, and a couple of in depth stories if you're lucky.

As for NPR's "long dissertations on flower arranging" - yeah, a truly boring story comes along occasionally - that's when I tune over to music for awhile. But by and large, NPR covers the same stories other media covers, but they cover them in depth. I've gained a lot of true understanding about a lot of issues through NPR coverage.

 

[robnokshus06]

I wasn't a big Stern fan, but I listened enough times to remember that he'd do very long show segments without a break.

I remember hearing a segment he did with Ebert and Roper as guests. It was absolutely hysterical - and the interaction couldn't have been funnier if it was scripted.

The segment had already started when I got in the car for my morning commute, and it was still going (no break) when I got to work about 30 minutes later.

Conversely, I can remember getting in my car for my morning commute, tuning in Stern, and listening to one long spot break on the drive in!