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US 99.5 = Slick
- Thread starter DToTheJ
- Start date
"Slick" implies something less than flattering. It is what it is: one spot lasting a few seconds between songs. Cumulus Media has done this for some time. It's not a brand new thing. To old radio guys they may sound strange between songs without station mentions, but radio companies have a right to try a few different approaches to generating revenue.
Right Glenn, and "spot" is radio jargon for "commercial."
How many regular every day people who listen hear material of a commercial matter and think to themselves "oh, that's not a commercial!" Ask your every day Pandora listener who doesn't pay and ask them if it's commercial free... they'll tell you that it isn't. There's a 10-15 second spot four times an hour between songs.
There's nothing wrong with it, I think it's brilliant. It's just not commercial free. Doesn't matter how you spin it, it's not commercial free.
I loved Cumulus' 5 second spots so much we did them at my station. Great branding booster in between songs for consistent radio users, but definitely not a replacement for a full schedule.
How many regular every day people who listen hear material of a commercial matter and think to themselves "oh, that's not a commercial!" Ask your every day Pandora listener who doesn't pay and ask them if it's commercial free... they'll tell you that it isn't. There's a 10-15 second spot four times an hour between songs.
There's nothing wrong with it, I think it's brilliant. It's just not commercial free. Doesn't matter how you spin it, it's not commercial free.
I loved Cumulus' 5 second spots so much we did them at my station. Great branding booster in between songs for consistent radio users, but definitely not a replacement for a full schedule.
Can't speak for what a focus group would perceive about Pandora. In the interest of accuracy, US 99.5's wording goes, "We never stop for commercial breaks." A five to ten second commercial mention or sponsor billboard is over before even the most compulsive button pushers can hit "scan". I've heard funding acknowledgements on "noncommercial" public radio run longer than that. Stopping the music for a full fledged commercial break that can run anywhere from thirty seconds to ten minutes can be a different matter.
GlennO said:
It's even more than that, depending on the station format. I've heard them shoehorn a sponsor name inside the weather jingle, as in (slogan) - (sponsor name) - (sung "Weather") which the sponsor gets a whole two second mention if they're lucky! It even gets crazier than that when stations announce they're coming to you from the "XYZ Company studios" or that the "such and such program" is brought to you by "xyz widgets" - if they were television I'd bet they be running quarter-screen ads on the bottom of the screen all day long!
Don't get me wrong, stations need to generate revenue but sometimes it gets to the point where it will drive listeners away. I told somebody yesterday I listen to a New York station for CT news and not the local station due to the incessant nonsense of babbling announcers.
Many radio programmers are no fans of every element having a sponsor mention attached to it. I understand that, especially in small markets. The original topic implied US 99.5 was stretching their premise. As long as they don't say "commercial free", not stopping for commercial breaks can be a listener benefit.
luperm said:
People who have no other station in the market playing the music the long-stopset station plays. Country radio listeners here, now that Clear Channel has removed WPKX from most of the Hartford market, listen to WWYZ, mind-numbing stopsets and all. Either that or they get Sirius XM or fall back on prerecorded music.
luperm said:
Not even the jocks, as they probably run out to go to the can.
The numbers would surprise you. For shorter breaks, the majority of the audience is maintained. It's more than half.
Think about it: If NOBODY was listening to radio commercials, would advertisers continue to see results from their radio advertising?
http://www.arbitron.com/study/spot_study.asp
Think about it: If NOBODY was listening to radio commercials, would advertisers continue to see results from their radio advertising?
http://www.arbitron.com/study/spot_study.asp
reelyreal said:
I hate to say it, but consider the source. Would they really say nobody was listening? That's just like the HD Radio Lobby claiming quantities of HD Radios sold that sound way too inflated (see the discussion in the corresponding area of RD).
Sure, short commercial breaks will likely find keep listeners. I was in a store and they had a local FM station on. It was between a 4 and 5 minute stopset with non-stop commercials.I really doubt people are staying put during that.
Bill DeFelice said:
Well, they have to put something out there to counter the haters who, based only on what they know about listening habits of their friends and family, declare over and over on that same forum that HD has only "a couple" or "half a dozen" listeners in a given market.
CTListener said:
Counter the haters? This is a rather strong view considering the fact I know no less than three engineers for major FM stations that when their HD "soils the linen" that nobody, and I mean NOBODY calls to complain. Imagine investing in this technology, not to mention the electric bill, to have nobody listening? HD is a solution for a problem that nobody cares about.
Bringing the thread back on topic, I too would rather hear a 5 second sponsorship over the intro of a song than a long, drawn out stopset. Radio in the 60's thru the 80's always had patter over the intro of songs so I don't see this being much of a big deal. Heck, have you ever listened to the "underwriting grant" mentions on some of the NPR outlets? Some are really walking the fine line between a "mention" and a full blown commercial!
The whole idea will be most effective if the difference is clearly pointed out to listeners and sponsors. This approach contrasts sharply with traditional stop sets (commercial breaks that can run six minutes or more). How would you promote this any more accurately? As long as you don't say "commercial free" or play these mini-spots between every other song, what's the problem?reelyreal said:
I stand by my feeling that the positioning is misleading. Their facebook says "A commercial-free country station! Welcome!"
That's just not true. You know it, John. It's not a commercial-free country station. It's a "5 minute-stopset-free country station." "We only air adlets!"
There are better ways to position it. "The fewest commercials in New England." "You'll never hear more than 15 seconds of ads." "While they're playing ads, we're always playing the freshest country."
That's just not true. You know it, John. It's not a commercial-free country station. It's a "5 minute-stopset-free country station." "We only air adlets!"
There are better ways to position it. "The fewest commercials in New England." "You'll never hear more than 15 seconds of ads." "While they're playing ads, we're always playing the freshest country."
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