And there does appear to be an increase in the number of stations that are squeezing in an unbelievable number of commercials in their breaks, using that technology that compresses out the pauses in speech to shorten the content time(one wonders if they use this to reduce Glenn Beck's show to 10 minutes per hour!)
And how about those stations that spend more time on their own promo's than actual news and weather? WOAI in San Antonio and KTRH in Houston are especially bad, spending more time telling us how great and often their weather is than discussing the actual weather, which 9 times out of 10 just a canned general forecast from the Weather Channel. Really, how hard is it for the newsreader to sometime during the hour glance at the TV or internet radar and tell us WHERE a storm is near and WHERE it is moving? "A 40 percent chance of rain" doesn't do jack squat for me when I'm out driving, telling me where the rain is far more useful. Is a cable TV or internet hookup really going to bankrupt these stations? I realize that some promo's are needed to establish brand identity, but they truly think that we are morons, tossing out there call letters multiple times a minute. Ya know, "Your exclusive KRAP traffic and KRAP weather together, heard only on KRAP on the KRAP 50,000 watt KRAP blowtorch. Live, late breaking, local, KRAP is your news source for exclusive KRAP news monster. When news breaks, KRAP is there. Now the KRAP update, with KRAP news specialist..." Followed by a 15-second news story, then a similar promo, then commercials, then a similar KRAP exclusive KRAP Weather Channel meteorologist...", 15-second canned forecast, another promo, and closing with the inane, "Remember the time you spent listening to KRAP's Blowhard and Blotto, only on KRAP."
How does the Bozo who came up with this tripe keep his job?
For the words of the profits
Are written on the studio wall,
Concert hall ---
Echoes with the sounds...
Of salesmen.
Then, of course, the miracle of the market happened and two other alternative stations joined the fray. After about two or three months where these alternative stations were the only ones worth listening to, suddenly XRT is XRT again. It's a beautiful thing to have the old XRT back. I'm sure they were getting their clocks cleaned by the alternative stations that even the old guys like me were tuning in to. That's what happens when you let the marketing guys rule the roost, IMHO.
That sounds about right. Almost thirty minutes per hour of grating ads for restaraunts and car dealerships.
And, as you noted, KRAP's laughable self promotion.
Infinity and Clear Channel are so worthless it's hard to believe they can stay in business.
Gawd how I miss the old KZEW.
And you know, it wouldn't be so bad if radio ads weren't so incredibly annoying. There are ads that have made me swear to never buy their product just to spite them for their horrible ad.
There is a pretty good music station I would listen to if they did not give the call letters and assorted yap between each and every song. Just play the bloody music!
Sorry, Kirby and John and Rusty and Rush and Michael and Michael and Michael (you know who you are)...
And about WBAP. Every time there is a decent challenge to Mark Retch, I mean Davis, WBAP grabs them and shuffles them away, never to be heard again in this market.
I switched to XM and hardly ever listen to commercial radio except for Rush and baseball games. Hopefully, Rush and sports will eventually end up on XM, and then I can trash Am and FM completely. All they are are one commercial after another!
If any of you enjoy classical music and can't stomach the idea of listening to a NPR station, go this this ad-free classical station in Raleigh NC:
http://www.wcpe.org
24 hours of Classical Music...7 days a week...365 days a year.
And the best part? No snobbery or NPR pretensions.
Think they'll cut down on the ads? LOL, right!
Hey, if that liberal radio show (what is it called, Airhead America) can make it without commercials, why should the rest of the radio stations be any different.
I listen to WFAN radio late at night -- it's the big sports radio show here. It's astonishing how many ads they run, and how long the breaks are. The worst is the commerical where the guy says, "I'm a dope, I'm a clumsy, stupid ignoramus" -- I can't change the station fast enough when that ad comes on.
It's getting to be the same on the Internet.As long as these A,H's have ears and eyes they will spam you.Do'nt buy the product they advertize instead of bitching about it.
Kerry's getting plenty of free press on Howard Stern every day. Apparently Howard isn't happy with more restrictive FCC regulations and his ClearChannel handlers. I guess they're hampering his ability to stage tickling contests or throw pastries at fat womens' asses.
Houston time compresses Rush's program. I used to be able to tune into Beaumont to hear the broadcast in realtime but I think that they've also gone to doing this. The lag time is noticeable.
I like KLove radio.....listener-supported, so no ads.
But, it is Christian.
Public radio is scarcely any better. They spend so much time with fundraisers and telling us that "our commercial free programming depends on your donations" that they might as well run the damn ads in the first place.
So now I travel around with an MP3 player and I have a stack of CDs for the car. One of these days, I'm going to have to hook up with Sirius or XM radio.
My pet peeve.
Ads are why I can't stand listening to Boortz in the morning. I think he's on about 30 - 35 minutes during the 9:00 hour.
And I used to listen religiously to AM580 - WDBO (Orlando) in the early morning. Then a few years ago it became almost non-stop ads. Traffic - ads. Weather - ads. Three minutes of news - ads. It got to the point where I'd turn on the radio and think, "If there is an ad when I tune to 580, I'm turning the dial".
I don't think I listened to ANY WDBO for almost a month before I finally tuned to it once and there wasn't an ad. Even now I listen maybe 10mins a week. It is that bad.