- repeating endlessly the same 20 or so songs, so you know them by heart after a week.
- speakers wafling about the most stupid topics
- endlessly repeating the radio brand name

I was wondering if it was a need of advertising to avoiding “competing” with some too interesting content, where listeners would get really angry about interruptions and switch to another radio because of that! On the other-hand if the content is too stupid or disagreeable they probably won’t listen at all, so there is probably an optimum trade off for the quality level of broadcasts : stupid enough to avoid making people angry with interruptions and interesting enough to keep them, where interesting can be somehow decreased with a larger broadcast (so when people try to switch on luck they fall again on your channel). As a correlation, programs become more interesting outside ofthe advertising slots, for example between 2 and 4 am, no more repeated boring always the same songs (even between radio channels they seem to share the same songs, to make it more boring and less likely to go somewhere else).

Lets summarize it : adverts deflate the radio broadcast quality! And Internet opt-in non interruptive adverts don’t have this problem!

Great I found at last an explanation,
Mr Critical
Ps : I put greenpeace.org as a web site so I hope they get more visitors, but they did not ask me neither know (I am just trying to be useful, hope that’s ok).

Have a great 2011 Jaime!

i agree that social media and the internet has a big place in todays business environment. But, like radio, it’s only effective if you have the right message and the knowledge of how to operate it effectively.

I have a blog i wrote recently about this issue http://hubpages.com/hub/Radio-Advertising-its-just-not-fair

I have attended those clear channel presentations in Australia, Suprisingly alot of clients over here don’t have a firm grasp on social media or how to use it effectively. Suprising considering its obvious cost efficiency.

The number one problem with your article is you do not talk about target audience. If you are trying to sell widgets, radio stations will come out of the woodwork to take your money and most clients will go with the salesperson with whom they have the best repoire. Does that make sense??? You need to hire a competent media buyer who will objectively determine who your target audience is and which media best reaches them. If the media professional determines radio is fine, then he determines the station, the format, the daypart and the reach and frequency and the price. If this is done correctly, then Dan is right and you still have to develop the right message. However if you do this correctly, radio will deliver better results than most social media. Radio, Cable and TV have more success stories because right now they all out preform social media. This will all change down the road, but for the most part if you have the budget for Radio, Cable or TV you will get better results. Social media takes a lot of man hours and is fine as an additive or if you have a small budget. To save valuable time and to better target it too should also be done by a professional. If you are thinking about buying broadcast in any market in the country, you need to contact me at todd@mediabuyingdecions.com If you are presently broadcasting, I can analyze your contracts and invoices and show you how to reach more of your target audience without spending more money including my commission.

Whether or not to advertise via radio isn’t a “21st Century” question; it’s a “competence” question.

Most people don’t know how to create radio advertising that works. It’s not difficult, but it does require an understanding of how the medium really works…plus some skill.

Clear Channel’s “branding” pitch is their admission that they don’t have a clue how to create a radio campaign that motivates targeted listeners to take a specific action.

In my estimation, 90% of radio advertising is a waste of money — again, not because the medium is weak but because the creation and delivery of the message is incompetent.

The other 10%, however, makes lots of money for the advertiser.

It saddens me to hear you say radio makes no sense “especially for small businesses,” because small businesses are the easiest for which to create a profitable campaign.

To make money from radio advertising, you don’t need to understand the medium. You just need to work with someone who does.
.-= Dan O’Day´s last blog ..VIDEO: DAN INGRAM WCBS-FM, 1992 =-.

Great article!
I am as always impressed. I do have a question to you though.

As I can agree that radio has many short commings. The fact that it can be utilized as a part of a branding strategy is true.
The big problem is that you get a very untargeted market, most people “tune out” and you pay for a lot of listeners neither interested or in need of your product.

What I want to ask, is what you think about spotify?
I don’t know if you have used it, take a look at http://www.spotify.com, you basically create your own radio channel.

//Daniel
.-= Daniel M. Wood´s last blog ..What Do You Need Help With? What Do You Want To Read About? =-.