Too Many Commercials!

[TheBigA]

I think that most people tune them out either physically or mentally.

Maybe physically, but not mentally. We've done tests and they get subliminal recollection. The more annoying, the better. The greater the frequency, the more effect. I'm not kidding. Politeness doesn't work.

 

[Ford]

We've done tests and they get subliminal recollection. The more annoying, the better.

So what you're saying here is that Michael Crawford is an advertising genius?

 

[oldiesfan6479]

The more annoying, the better. The greater the frequency, the more effect. I'm not kidding. Politeness doesn't work.

Staying with car dealers (oldie but goodie version)...

Didn't Lou Grubb do as well as Tex Earnhardt over the years?

 

[99KTKT]

When's the last time you heard a radio ad for a product or service and the ad motivated you to go out and make a purchase?

They can work negatively. The sheer idiocy of the Netflix radio ads ("And now, for the bonus round...") had made me to solemnly swear to never, ever, EVER, use their service.

 

[landtuna]

When's the last time you heard a radio ad for a product or service and the ad motivated you to go out and make a purchase?

They can work negatively. The sheer idiocy of the Netflix radio ads ("And now, for the bonus round...") had made me to solemnly swear to never, ever, EVER, use their service.

I've done the same with shrieking car dealer ads and on TV with personal injury lawyers (and anything with a blue screen background).

 

[Basnya]

I'm not a big fan of commericals but hey, that's what keeps the lights on right?

For me it's a type of learning experience. I tend to analyze the production value of a spot. Don't we just love it when a client wants to write (or read) their own copy! Some are good, others laughably awful... but then they might just intentionally be bad as a way of getting us to remember them! ( Head on, anyone?)

When I tire of the ads, count me in as one of the Goldmine faithful... unless it's after dark, then it's off to KCDX.

 

[KMGX]

This isn't an issue on satellite or internet broadcasts--just saying

In all seriousness, I actually read a person in this thread say that most listeners stay through commercial breaks... I don't know how many cars you have been in or whom you associate with, however I cannot think of ONE person that doesn't immediately flip to another station as soon as the music stops. Then again, most people I know don't listen to terrestrial radio that much anymore. My own habits of listening even tend to make me flip away instantaneously and I'm "in the biz" ...kinda.

 

[ArtSpooner]

There's a sports radio station in Boston, WEEI, which until about a year ago ran their commercials in 10-12 minute blocks. Anyone could figure it out, and I for one, always changed the channel and came back 10 minutes later. At one time I owned a hardware store and if my ad had been buried in a block like that I would have taken my business elsewhere. Even if you are just a crumby little store, you're still payng good money for the ad and you want customers to hear it. I could never understand why they got away with this (other than very high ratings).

About a year ago a serious competetitor, WBZ FM, launched a sports station and WEEI started to run their ads in 90 second or two minute breaks. I wonder how much their old way of doing things allowed the new station to be successful quickly.

I had the pleasure of providing safe haven to Phoenix's own Jim Sharpe, here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, for a few days. I gave him a Groucho mask and and no one turned him in. He filled me in on what's happening in Free America. I'm envious. If only it weren't so hot there.

 

[landtuna]

There's a sports radio station in Boston, WEEI, which until about a year ago ran their commercials in 10-12 minute blocks. Anyone could figure it out, and I for one, always changed the channel and came back 10 minutes later.

Absolutely correct! If a station (hello KOOL-FM) has a reputation for long commercial blocks it doesn't take an idiot to figure out that when a commercial comes on you are in for 10 minutes of back-to-back commercials - time to hit the preset to elsewhere.

Long commercial blocks don't do justice to the people paying for those commercials nor listeners.

I had the pleasure of providing safe haven to Phoenix's own Jim Sharpe, here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts, for a few days. I gave him a Groucho mask and and no one turned him in. He filled me in on what's happening in Free America. I'm envious. If only it weren't so hot there.

It isn't always hot. 28 last night. In the 40's today. Brrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

 

[kwthom]

Back in the day, the old saw was "The only reason why we play music was to keep the commercials from being back-to-back!"

With this philosophy reversed, doesn't the 12th or 14th spot in the set get a cheaper rate than if it was in the top two slots in that set?

Another hand raised in the tune-out for ten minutes column.

 

[landtuna]

One thing I noticed while listening to radio shows from the 30's, 40's and 50's is that they usually did only 3 "sponsor sets" per half-hour. I say "sponsor sets" because there was usually only one commercial sponsor, not blocks.

The opening and ending of the show would have a 1 minute commercial and somewhere in the middle one more. Sometimes the product being advertised was sewn into the program itself (as a song, a skit or just a discussion between the characters). Jack Benny seems to have done this more than others. Our parents obviously knew that Jello sponsored Benny, Maxwell House sponsored Burns and Allen etc. and didn't need to be hit over the head with 6-8 individual commercials per set.

Both TV and radio are today guilty of doing this and both tend to repeat the same commercial to the point it gets extremely irritating.

I have never met a person who will willingly buy from a sponsor having irritating commercials.

 

[Kelly Watts]

A very interesting topic to say the least. Having put 45 years in radio, small market, I've worked at stations that were VERY HEAVY on commercials and some that were very sparse. One old P.D. of mine told me, that you should NEVER go more than 2 minutes without a change of pace, i.e. a quick talk segment, live show promo, song teaser, weather, etc. I tend to agree with this as I feel myself tuning out the commercial set after about the third one. Also along the way, some stations, set a maximum limit on number of minutes per hour (after the FCC quite the regulation) and if they were sold out then they simply raised the rates. I have also seen a sstem where the long term contract advertisers were place first on the logs (sets) as sort of a reward for thier contract.
As an advertiser for my own business I always tried to by 60's as they tend to run first in the commercial set. I always tried to keep my commercials fresh, and not beat a comedy spot into the ground. For my tastes radio has changed into a automated juke box with nothign to attract the listener. Ok, that is a generalization, but I go back to something my first P.D. told me, "be informative, be entertaining, or BE QUIET." I belive that applies not only to jocks but to the station in general.

 

[ykw]

One thing I noticed while listening to radio shows from the 30's, 40's and 50's is that they usually did only 3 "sponsor sets" per half-hour. I say "sponsor sets" because there was usually only one commercial sponsor, not blocks.

That was made possible because those "spots" were bought on, essentially, a syndicated basis* at a time when most markets only had three or four non-print media outlets of any sort.

Sponsors didn't have to fight through ad-market "noise" to get their messages out and heard; there wasn't any noise to speak of. You could buy a show and be heard in twenty, thirty, forty per cent of homes with little chance of tune-out (especially with the integrated commercials of the Benny or FM&M variety). You could run a straightforward sell without resorting to annoying gimmicks (even if, say, American Tobacco never got that memo).

Not the case now. There are thirty-some outlets competing in just the broadcast-radio space, alongside TV, cable, broadband and satellite services. You almost have to be incredibly annoying (or incredibly innovative; hello, GEICO) to be heard through the din.

*Network affiliations were, in most places, fairly loose; outside of major hubs like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA & SF, it wasn't at all uncommon for stations to air a patchwork of network, local and transcribed programming even in evening prime time, as that notorious WSJV complete-broadcast-day package makes clear.

 

[TheBigA]

Actually most of the network shows at that time were in fact owned and produced by the sponsors, who used the show to attract an audience for their exclusive commercials. All that changed when DJs came in. The stations owned the shows, networks faded, and commercials increased.

 

[asugeorge1]

If you guys are so feed-up with commercials on the radio (which seems to be almost everyone here), then you need to turn no further than our beloved Lumberyard. For whatever reason, it seems that the Lumberyard has resorted to almost a public-service station mentality playing those 50's and 60's oldies from the Goldmine. Today I listened to KAZG for two straight hours from 1:00 P.M. to 3:00 P.M., and they didn't air a single commercial in that timeframe. In the normal stopset for their one commercial that runs before and after the 14-in-a-row, it went straight to the end of the commercial bumper (ala "another 14-in-a-row starts right now") and continued to play music. No breaks whatsoever. Curious, right?

Before this recent phenomenon, whenever the Lumberyard did air a commercial, they were mostly public-service announcements reminding people to slow down in school zones and such. Now I'm not complaining or anything because this is, after all, my favorite station on Phoenix radio, but I wonder how the Goldmine is able to pay their bills. Are they running some sort of Ponzi scheme out of the old Lumberyard? ;D

 

[landtuna]

... but I wonder how the Goldmine is able to pay their bills. Are they running some sort of Ponzi scheme out of the old Lumberyard? ;D

Maybe they are charging fishermen a fee to use their canal bank? ;D

 

[99KTKT]

Before this recent phenomenon, whenever the Lumberyard did air a commercial, they were mostly public-service announcements reminding people to slow down in school zones and such. Now I'm not complaining or anything because this is, after all, my favorite station on Phoenix radio, but I wonder how the Goldmine is able to pay their bills. Are they running some sort of Ponzi scheme out of the old Lumberyard? ;D

Ditto with KCDX Florence-Phoenix/KRDX Vail-Tucson. Someone's got deep pockets...

 

[KeithE4]

...I wonder how the Goldmine is able to pay their bills. Are they running some sort of Ponzi scheme out of the old Lumberyard? ;D

Three successful FMs and an AM that's at least breaking even (I think) are supporting Gumpdusky's lumberyard hobby. I wonder if AM 1440 has ever made a dime on its own in 50+ years on the air without support from its FM sister(s).

 

[ykw]

Actually most of the network shows at that time were in fact owned and produced by the sponsors, who used the show to attract an audience for their exclusive commercials. All that changed when DJs came in. The stations owned the shows, networks faded, and commercials increased.

The sponsors didn't own or produce squat, in most cases. Ad agencies generally leased a particular weekly time from the network, sold sole ad access to it to sponsors, then contracted either with the network or directly with talent to produce programs which remained the property of the entity which produced them. (Check the copyright info on most OTR collections; it almost always ascribes ownership to lead talent or to the network on which it originally aired.) Sometimes the network skipped the agency entirely, producing programming on a "sustaining" basis while trying to sell it to advertisers directly. There were also a tiny handful of cases where talent owned a time slot (most notably, Jack Benny in his 1944 NBC and 1948 CBS contracts) and contracted an ad agency (BBD&O in Benny's case) to deal with sponsors.

Yes, there were certain instances where a large company owned a program outright (Texaco Star Theatre, Kraft Music Hall) and shopped it around from time to time to get the best rates, but these were fairly rare.

 

[TheBigA]

The sponsors didn't own or produce squat, in most cases. Ad agencies generally leased a particular weekly time from the network, sold sole ad access to it to sponsors, then contracted either with the network or directly with talent to produce programs which remained the property of the entity which produced them. (Check the copyright info on most OTR collections; it almost always ascribes ownership to lead talent or to the network on which it originally aired.)

I did. That's why so many old time radio programs are no longer the property of their networks. They were owned by sponsors or (as you said) ad agencies. So years later, they sold those rights to outside companies, who now get any money from those shows. I once worked at a network that tried to celebrate a major anniversary by playing some of its historic radio dramas from the 30s, and we discovered we had to pay the outside copyright owner, and the network had no rights whatsoever. The network didn't sell those rights. The agency or sponsor did. I later discovered this was not uncommon.