Hadn't thought of that, but I think you're right. And if the jock was really good, he or she could even inject a little ad lib humour into the copy while reading it. For some reason, I still remember the Real Bob James on WGAR Cleveland in the 70s doing a Nissan spot live and talking about the vehicle's "differential." It must have struck him as odd, so he simply added, "makes no differential to me!" 

It's not a genius line and he was capable of much better, but you know what? It's now nearly 50 years later and for some reason, I still remember that spot. So if I ever buy a Nissan in Cleveland, they'll know who to give the credit to! 

If CHFI is supposed to be "the perfect music mix," their AM counterpart, CFTR, is about the perfect spot mix. They never seem to have too many commercials in a row, with the spot breaks broken up by other content, short as it might be. Whether it's coming out of a break with tomorrow's gas price prediction (and then going into another 30 sec. commercial) or promoting a story, followed by a one minute pause, or telling listeners traffic and weather "are next," the station never feels cluttered. That is not an easy feat and they usually do it quite well. 

It's interesting to listen to some of the airchecks on Dale Patterson's Rock Radio Scrapbook.  Listening to  tapes from the 70's sometimes stations like CHUM or CFTR seemed to front load commercials in the first 25 minutes playing only one song and into commercials.  Then the second half hour playing three or four songs in a row before commercials. Also I have heard airchecks where a station stopped the music for only one 60 second commercial.  These examples are not in morning drive but usually evening or on weekends. 

The longest commercial promo breaks I have noticed on the larger stations in Southern Ontario seem to be maximum 5 minutes.  When I was listening to Detroit radio last fall in the car, the only commercial/promo break I heard on WRIF lasted 10 minutes.  I would never normally hang in that long but I wanted to see how many minutes the stop set would be.  And this was on a Sunday afternoon, and some ads/promo were only 10-15 seconds long. 

In fairness to WRIF I listened to the station on and off for about 30 minutes and don't really know how long the music sets are on the weekend or how many commercial breaks they have per hour.  Maybe it is just the one long break?  But a 10 minute commercial set is not serving listeners or advertisers in my opinion. 

Last edited by paterson1 (February 16, 2023 6:30 pm)

paterson1 wrote:

It's interesting to listen to some of the airchecks on Dale Patterson's Rock Radio Scrapbook.  Listening to  tapes from the 70's sometimes stations like CHUM or CFTR seemed to front load commercials in the first 25 minutes playing only one song and into commercials.  Then the second half hour playing three or four songs in a row before commercials. 

Not sure if I remember it like that back then, but memory is a fleeting thing. But one thing they also did - many of the commercials they ran came almost in the form of a song. Remember "The Supremes - for Coke!" followed by Diana Ross and the group crooning a spot for the soft drink. Another one was 'You're in the Pepsi Generation!' Those were almost more like songs than spots and you didn't mind listening to them. In fact, a few of them, like "I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing" or "Come To The Sunshine" (which I think started as a hair colouring ad) became hits on their own. 

That idea is almost completely gone today. 

paterson1 wrote:

The longest commercial promo breaks I have noticed on the larger stations in Southern Ontario seem to be maximum 5 minutes.  When I was listening to Detroit radio last fall in the car, the only commercial/promo break I heard on WRIF lasted 10 minutes.  I would never normally hang in that long but I wanted to see how many minutes the stop set would be.  And this was on a Sunday afternoon, and some ads/promo were only 10-15 seconds long. 

Wow, 10 minutes of commercials? I can't imagine even the most loyal listener sitting through that, when switching is as easy as pressing a button. But like you, I might have sat there just to see how long they would dare to air so many. But I'm pretty sure the average listener would be long gone by about spot #4, if not sooner. 

Radiowiz wrote:

Today radio (Toronto) may have no listeners, but that isn't preventing an overload of ads. 
I'd tell you how long the ads go for, but I am not sure because I am gone after hearing so many...then I come back and there's still more? 
I just wanted to hear what song they play next or what the topic might be. (just curious) but I refuse to sit through all those ads to find out. 
I guess I'll never know...

Low TSL means more frequent airings to achieve reach

If Spence, Coast Appliance and Full Mast ED stopped advertising, would all radio stations go under?  It would almost be worth it.

This is why the younger generation listen primarily to streaming services . We all understand the necessity of advertising to keep radio on air, the new technology being commercial free is the way to go now it seems.