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WRKO: lots of PSAs, promos; where are the ads?

raccoonradio

raccoonradio

I get the idea the sports folks down the hall are helping to subsidize Howie. I was just listening to
Howie and noticed what was in a typical ad break:
--4 PSAs including Jada Pinkett Smith on "child safety", "Iris" the IRS helper
--Promo for Howie's show (We're listening)
--PSA for McGruff, the crime dog (identity theft)
--Huzzah! An actual ad --for Carbonite

Then I think one more PSA before the 3:30 news.

A sign of the deflated ad market? I'd hope WEEI at least gets some ad dollars, justifying
Glenn's salary. And I love hearing Howie but how much money is RKO making on ads
when I keep hearing PSAs? (Oops, there's an ad--Giant Glass--now another one, Advil :)
For a minute I thought was hearing a non-commercial station :)

And i used to make fun of Air America for running mostly PSAs because they had few advertisers! :)
 
As far as Boston was concerned, the problem wasn't with Air America, but with the fact that CCU put "progressive talk" on a frequency way up there (in Boston WXKS-AM 1430) that was to all intents and purposes a daytime-only station. (In fact Mark Jurkowitz of the Globe referred to it as a daytime station). Suppose for a moment that AM-1150 was a locally-owned standalone outlet. If that operation had picked up the same shows as WXKS-AM, it would have generated the first ratings for that frequency since the Eisenhower administration, and would also have been motivated to acquire sponsors. But the ACTUAL owners of the station on 1150, although traded on the stock exchange and therefore, bound by fiduciary responsibilities to try to drive revenue, instead pursued a format that was sure to be a loser in Boston. (Same is true of WWZN at the time.) AM-1150 might not have a great signal (even when illegally running its daytime pattern 24/7), but it covered the portion of the market, Back Bay, Cambridge, Somerville, Belmont, Lexington and Brookline, that was perfect for the shows WXKS-AM ultimately broadcast.
 
This recent trend is happening with many N/T/S stations around the country. Some stations that have to fill their local avails have apparently decided against the disturbing practice of "bonusing" spots in favor of PSAs & more promos. It's not a win-win situation either way you go, but with tightening dollars and alarming budgets this seems to be the most prudent way to attack, IMO.

From a listener's perspective, I'd rather hear a "National Anti-Vivisection Organization" or "FeedThePig.org" spot instead of the same crappy-sounding local sports bar spot airing 5x an hour. I know, with more than 3 decades in the biz, I'll never be a regular "listener", but I've stepped far enough away to try to enjoy terrestrial programming as much as possible. Think of it this way: what would keep you from flipping? A Smokey Bear PSA or a cacophonic car dealer spot?
 
Listening definitely on a radio, not the webstream

Air America: The joke went that after a host would bash WalMart or huge corporations,
"We'll be right back after this...uh, public service announcement!" :) (Meaning who'd
want to advertise) and there were rumors of certain companies boycotting due to a list.
Who knows.

1200 and 1430 def. weren't best freqs for a lot of people esp. at night, I'd agree; if a 680
were to air the shows, who knows? At least the latest effort (1510) has a local daily host.
And who knows, if they want a weekend show and can afford to pay him (or have him
buy his own airtime), Mr. Dyett's available.

Agreed on 1150's signal; Salem didn't make much of an effort with them other than turning on
the bird for syndie shows.
 
;D...Insert barrell in mouth.......Wait for old codger to say,......."I Read The Newspaper To My Wife, And It Cracked Her Up!"......PULL TRIGGER! ::) Seeya!..
 
Oh yeah: "What have I done for my marriage today...wow.....I dunno"
"I'm actually giving my wife the day orff (NY accent) from me. She's with her girlfriends."
"Well I know I didn't fight! (laughs)"

Did you know some child safety information is dated?...I'm Ashley Judd and as someone who's
personally experienced a home fire... "Stealing people's identities is as easy as standing behind
them on the checkout line"..."I left home and all my possessions were in the driveway. I mean,
what we do saves lives..."
=============
 
Feed the Pig!!!!!!!!!!
 
Webstream listener out here near Cooperstown...

Also to "Insert Gun in Mouth..." (Thank You Father!)

"Dakota, NO! (Yelp!)"

"Tom the Racedriver who pulls over to register for Selective Service"

Repeating 2-3 times in a row during a break— "Howie's Cup of Coffee/gas tax cut" promo...

It gets brutal on the stream...
 
How about Lucinda Basset from the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety (or something like that). Who is Lucinda Basset (she says it like we already know her) and what is she selling? More importantly, is she making money? Smells like a scam to me.

Gotta go read the newspaper to my wife, cracks her up every time!
 
Don't forget..."AMBA ALERT!!!"...spoken in not-so-dulcet ebonic tones.

You've all mentioned the migraine-inducing WRKO stand-bys. Ashley Judd,the "marriage" drivel, "you hear so much about taking lives..", the fact that National Guard chose that guy for a commercial is horrifying-and of course..."Iris".. ::). WRKO's PSA parade each night is as predictable as the tides.

And the non-PSA's...those "Netflix" phony game shows are just a hoot. Otosclerosis is preferable...
 
Uh, guys? Reality check? It's first quarter.

Even in a better economy, first quarter ads...especially in the weeks immediately following the holidays...are scarce. With the economy so badly tanked, it will be even worse. It means nothing beyond that. Seems like we have this same discussion every year at this time, with the predictable predictions of doom for WRKO...which have yet to come to pass.
 
We're overly familiar with these PSAs because they RUN ALL YEAR...INCESSANTLY each and every quarter.
 
kjlassoc said:
How about Lucinda Basset from the Midwest Center for Stress and Anxiety (or something like that). Who is Lucinda Basset (she says it like we already know her) and what is she selling? More importantly, is she making money? Smells like a scam to me.

Gotta go read the newspaper to my wife, cracks her up every time!
Click to expand...

I miss those infomercials from my insomniac days
 
And how about, "It's not just baseball on the radio, it's Red Sox baseball on the radio," with the plug for the Entercom sales department, heard (or so it seemed) at least once during every single break last season?
 
Oh Please—May I pile on?

Jared and his mother crying together, because he figured out how to fill out a form ALL BY HIMSELF...

Eddjacashun is good thing!

Don't forget to tell a newly diagnosed Bi-polar person to get out there and buy a new pair of earrings to solve the problem!

I'm there for ya!

Dumber...this is a whole new era for January and lack of commercials. Hopefully you have a job and aren't trying to get onto websites for claiming unemployment, sites which have just dumped out due to overwhelmikng demand in most Eastern US states.

Remember—'Just One Thing' (I haven't got time to even THINK about the environment!)
 
81-92bingradioalum said:
Dumber...this is a whole new era for January and lack of commercials.
Click to expand...

No, it isn't anything of the sort. Nothing has changed, except the economy, which has made the thin spot loads even more apparent, but they're no different in kind than any other January previously. Since you're new here, you apparently aren't familiar with the clinical diagnosis known as Entercom Derangement Syndrome, suffered by too many on this board. Its symptoms include amnesia, predictions of gloom and/or demise that have been repeated at least seven times previously (with identical results) and rampant Tourette's syndrome whenever Entercom or any of its stations are mentioned.
 
Let's not forget Rosetta Stone and the ever popular spackle and paste and oh yeah, the purity infomercials that interrupt coast to coast am....unfreakinbelievable.....coast to coast is on from 1am to 5am however, at 3am rko interrupts the program to bring you an hour long informerical on vitamins and/or herbs......excellent radio, excellent indeed,, brilliant idea, can't wait til coast to coast is over then run the purity crap for an hour, then the wsj weekend and they even screw that up, cut it off in mid sentence for the freakin' top of the hour news........I get insomnia now and then and when I do I turn on coast to coast because usually noory's voice is an instant cure for insomnia, if not him, then that terrible bill kelly who they sometimes slip in at 3am sunday mornings.......unfreakinbelievable..........OH and don't forget,,,,,,,,rule number one, don't lose the money, rule number two, don't forget rule number one............!
 
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