Call me old fashioned, but I came from an era of radio programmers that defined success as creating an on-air product that caused people to listen. The longer and more often that a listener tuned in, the better we did. As I listen to music stations in all formats, I’m baffled by the marathon commercial stop sets. 10, 12 even 15 minutes of spot after spot after spot. Adding to the annoyance are the strategically placed 5 and 10 second shouts assuring the listener that the station is going to eventually play another song.
“Don’t touch that dial! We’ll be right back after this 30 minute power half hour of commercials!”
Admittedly, years ago I crossed the aisle into sales, management and ultimately running my own marketing firm, so I’m not in the programming world every day. And I get the fact that PPM has created unique opportunities to bury monster stop sets in the least damaging quarter hours. But as a radio guy and as a radio listener, I must say that this aspect of radio programming appears to be one of the primary tactics that is running off our audiences to less painful alternatives like Pandora, 365, Rhapsody, etc.
When our team buys campaigns on terrestrial music stations, we now have to be very careful about placement within the stop set. That’s because we have stumbled across a shocking and surprising side-effect that marathon stop sets have on advertisers: They are very bad for results. Sure, the CPP/CPM negotiated buys that are based on buying impressions don’t see this. It’s the locally-owned direct advertiser, who is depending on their radio buy to get ‘the phone ringing and the door swinging’, that is experiencing marathon madness. And, I believe it’s resulting in many failed campaigns from local advertisers who could, under different conditions, become consistent and loyal clients of a radio station.
What’s to blame? Maybe it’s the aforementioned ratings methodology. Or it might be a function of revenue pressure that is forcing some stations to increase commercial load. Or, as I suspect, both of these issues are probably contributing to the issue.
Please leave your comments on this subject. I’m hoping several program directors will check in with thoughts on the topic.
In the meantime, I’ll be back with more a week from Wednesday, right after this short commercial break…….
President/CEO
Editor’s Note: Pete Thomson is a 30 year veteran of radio and television. His career includes over 15 years working on-air at KDWB, WLOL, KAFM and KHYI. He worked as Assistant Program Director/Music Director at KAFM, Dallas. After working in sales and sales management for about 10 years, Thomson worked as a general manager in Dallas for over 10 years. In 2011, he started McQ Media, a full-service marketing and advertising firm, based in Dallas, Texas.
Very important topic. Deadly for the cash register. Agencies should understand that the ULTIMATE goal of a campaign is the cash register. You can try to justify a buy with numbers but if response isn’t there, the advertisers will leave the radio medium.
You are spot on! (No pun intended)