I believe that in terms of radio,
not online radio but actual over the air frequencies, most companies are more
interested in making money and getting advertisements than they are about
keeping the listeners happy. However the only way these companies can keep
getting advertisements is by keeping listeners happy. In this way radio
stations have to worry about both keeping users entertained and getting
advertisements, even though many radio stations could care less if the
listeners were happy, as long as they were making money. However this is only
my opinion based on my knowledge of companies in other areas of entertainment
and other industries.
Different stations use different
ways to attract listeners which will attract more advertisements. Newer
stations have fewer advertisements and use this as an incentive to get more
people to listen. For example the new radio station, Amp radio 103.3, uses the
slogan “103 minutes of commercial free music” because it doesn't have a lot of
commercials which is directly because not many people listen to it. As it
becomes more popular and it gets saved as a preset in more and more car radios,
then companies will want to buy commercial slots from Amp radio and the
commercials will become longer and longer. Jam’n 94.5 is another good example,
because it is competing with amp radio for listeners. They both advertise long
stretches of commercial free music: amp radio 103 minutes, and Jam’n one hour.
However the difference is in how long the commercials are in between those
stretches of music. Jam’n 94.5 has more fans and because of this it has many
more commercials, I recorded 10 minutes of straight commercials one time, while
amp radio usually only has 2-3 minutes of commercials.
Radio has changed drastically since
it first originated. In the past radio existed to provide entertainment for
people, using different methods such as talk shows, comedy readings, and disco
jockeys. However it has changed, along with most industries in entertainment,
and now exists for the radio stations to make money, and providing
entertainment is just how those owners are choosing to make that money.
Thanks Christian, I think you deserve credit just for addressing the relationship between marketing and radio entertainment. I am surprised that you are the only student in your class, thus far, that has addressed old fashion radio entertainment. My, how times change. Your analysis is good, but let me offer you something to consider. You directly linked the amount of ads on a radio station to the popularity of that station. You suggest that the more popular a station is, the more ads it will include. I completely agree. I think we can extend this thinking even more. I bet you that a typical radio station will feature more ads during high traffic hours than they will during non high traffic hours. The same logic would apply. For example, does 103.3 guarantee 103 minutes of commercial free music during rush hour, or just during the day, when fewer people listen? This would be interesting to check. I know that in the mornings, when I am driving in to school, if I am listening to the radio any time after 5:30am, I can almost never find music. Stations broadcast commercials and talk; that's it.
ReplyDeleteRegardless, your post is good. The only technical advice I have is to review the rules for comma use. There are probably a dozen times in this post when you should have used a comma. Writing without commas is like driving through a city with no traffic lights. Things get messy.