RadioActive wrote:

     it finally becomes a disservice to the listener. I can’t believe anyone stayed tuned for all that time. And I can’t be the only one who didn’t bother coming back  

1.  "disservice to the listener" -- yes, which listeners figured out two decades ago
2. "I can't believe anyone stayed tuned" -- as most radio is listened to in a vehicle with a button on the steering wheel to change the station, no one stayed beyond the first 10 seconds of the initial commercial
3. "I can't be the only one who didn't bother coming back" -- everyone came back, every minute or two, to see if the commercials were over

always glad to help

geo
 

Funny you would mention bathroom breaks. There's a semi-famous story out of CFTR in its Top 40 days when they were at the tail end of a drive time newscast around 5:30 PM, and the guy reading the copy threw to the sports person - who wasn't there.

The newscaster had no sports copy, so he couldn't just dive in or ad lib anything. And they had an adjacency out of sports, so they didn't want to go back to music. With no way out, the board op started playing the sports actualities he'd been given, one after another, with no intros. Listeners heard an unidentified voice saying, "Yeah we could have played better, and we will tonight," followed by yet another clip from another nameless athlete or coach from another sport. None of which made any sense to the audience.

At one point, Dan Williamson, who was the afternoon drive DJ, a guy built like a football player, came barreling through the station screaming the sportscaster's name, to no avail. By then, every second that went by felt like an hour. 

So where was he?  Turns out this guy - who always dressed like Herb Tarlek on WKRP and wasn't the brightest bulb in the place - had forgotten about his sportscast and opted to go to the can instead. Needless to say, when he heard himself being thrown to on the washroom speakers, he tried to finish what he started but couldn't. He came running out after the third or fourth nameless clip, dashed into the news booth, did an extro on the final clip with no real explanation, and signed off with "And that's CFTR Sports," putting an end to the unmitigated disaster.

For obvious reasons, he wasn't with the station very long after that.  

On the Fan590 at about ten minutes before the hour, it's a solid block of spots, a sports update, and then finally back to the show at the top of the hour. At different times all the stations force listeners to wade through an extended dance remix 7 min.+ of spots. What would happen if a brand manager saw it as an opportunity for their station to get their less experienced on-air talent some coaching, like Sears and Switzer, (who I hear are worth it) and Tracey Hoyt, (who I know is worth it). Instead of switching the dial, the listeners might... listen.

FOR MUSIC STATIONS ... ... ... In THIS day and age?  90 seconds would be the ideal MAX...maybe 2 minutes at xmas time...and even then only every other stop set.  Running newscasts too?  1/2 a minute MAX between segments.  Charge a little more per spot.  Run less tuneout factors/ads per stop.  Get rid of those who do their own commercials too.  Spots can be good info...when you [as a listener] NEED whatever it is 'they're' pushing.  Otherwise...it's however many seconds of some different individuals sounding like they're saying "turn to another choice...and do it NOW!!!"

If it's just an ongoing blabbermouth run-off, run on, run off, ad infinitum, forever and a day plus 9, moving of the gawd-dammed lips, who really gives a proper shit anyway, bla bla bla station...well...Yack is yack is yack is yack and it's totally annoying, off-putting, stupidity, drenched with idiotic blithering ... ... ... 'til the cows come home...hear it...and quickly leave again.  So it doesn't really matter.  Nobody can talk that much every freekin' day of the work week w/o taking time to stop, read, ingest info, mull it over, bounce it off a few people you know and who's opinion you trust, rest, live and then, again, find yourself prepared for action.  Talking heads need well oiled/well fed thinking brains.  It's mandatory.  Or it at least should be.  Otherwise, not unlike the commercials, it's usually, really, truly and unfortunately just glorified noise.

-------------------------------------------------------Oh...and...------------------------------------------------

Yes Mike.  2 minutes in "the olden days"...when there were way fewer choices, devices, and commercial free options.  And that was when the music was tons better...and so too was the on-air talent and presentation.  You know...back when stations actually had their own unique personality and the good stuff was worth waiting for.

 

Last edited by Old Codger (June 30, 2017 3:09 pm)

Radiowiz wrote:

This sounds like a great topic for talk radio.  
 

They'll need a few weeks to develop an opinion. 
 

"Wow"?  I thought it was a bang-on 'impression' of a right wing talk show radio blow-hard. 

Me too cheese.  'Cause then you would likely agree with me.