That depends - is Kars for Kids considered a PSA or a paid spot?

Walter wrote:

If Spence Diamonds and Coast Appliances stopped advertising, would most Toronto radio stations go belly-up?

No.  "I Promise you"    (Remember the "Promise me!" ad? lol)

newsguy1 wrote:

Frank Leo and also Lino Archi? Leno Archey?
 

"That's right, Scott... I mean, Reshmi!"
 

Loosely speaking of Coast Appliances, I was surprised to see the onlineradiobox streaming amalgamation/directory site have all the internal ad break names in their listing for Calgary's 770 CHQR:

https://onlineradiobox.com/ca/chqr/playlist/?cs=ca.chqr

For example:

"16:17 . - - EVENT NAMES CALGARY - COAST APPLIANCES
17:19 . - - SLICED BREAD 60 CALGARY - COAST APPLIANCES

13:47 . - MAROON 5 MOVES LIKE JAGGER - MUSIC RETURN HOOK ONLY LONG
13:46 . - GOCF - SAVE THE DATE CALG 15 - TRIXSTAR
13:57 . - SHAYE SPONSOR 15 #2 - LEGACY HEATING"
and on and on.

That station broadcasts in HD so perhaps these names are part of that extended metadata (whereas it would be songs for music radio) and if they show on the official player (or "hidden" there on-screen but part of the data feed) it's logical they'd be retrieved. Not used to seeing pages and pages of internal naming for the spots.

Last edited by AspectRatio (January 5, 2023 10:49 pm)

I had to laugh at their last series of spots that aired just prior to the holidays, where they openly admitted people don't buy diamonds as Christmas presents. Yet they kept trying to tell people to do just that, even as they admitted they weren't going to buy them! I think it was designed to change that perception, but what an odd campaign.

I will give the Spences, Frank Leos and Tom's Places credit for one thing though - at least they're willing to advertise on radio, helping to keep stations going. I'm not sure how they'd attract revenues if it weren't for these guys willing to pay the freight. It doesn't, however, make them any easier to listen to, especially when they air back-to-back every single break!

Both Coast and Spence are certainly heavy advertisers and no doubt the stations appreciate the revenue. Are the ads effective? The mouthy grandchild in Coast appliances is annoying, but doesn’t usually prompt me to change the station or mute the volume. And the name Coast is repeated enough that it’s now quite familiar. However, it puzzles me how the mandatory maniacal scream in the Spence radio ads, along with this creepy Callum character who was introduced some time ago, attracts business.  Do their ads prompt people to purchase baubles? There’s lots of jewellery stores around, many of them with long-term respectable reputations and they don’t resort to barnyard squeals. I flip to another station when the Spence ad begins.