What is one object you can find in almost every car today? It never runs out of battery and also makes long car rides a bit more enjoyable. It’s the radio. In one sense, the radio is amazing. It plays music all day long and there are hundreds of different stations to choose from. On the other hand it is also quite obnoxious. Between all of our favorite songs come countless commercials. These commercials force us to change the station until we find another one with a song worth listening to.

Today, on this gloomy Sunday afternoon I was listening to Kiss 108, one of Bostons most popular hit-music stations, where I heard twenty-one commercials in thirty minutes. Twenty-one! Isn't that outrageous? I understand that it is a Sunday and most people have better things to do but those who don't should not be punished. During those thirty minutes, only three songs were played. Yes they were great songs but that does not change the fact that I was listening to straight commercials for over ten  minutes. The commercials varied from health insurance, car insurance, fast food etc. They were nothing special and I would have changed the station in a heart beat if I had the chance. 

Now the question you ask is an interesting one to answer. Was Kiss 108’s purpose of that wasted thirty minutes to attract me or to inform me? At this particular time, I believe it was solely to inform me. They are aware that most people have little need for up-beat pop music on a relaxing Sunday afternoon. However on a Friday or Saturday night that is not the case.  On a Saturday night for example, my thought is that they are purely entertainers. On Saturday nights their up-beat pop and techno commercial free music is greatly appreciated. Hence, on Sunday afternoon stations play more commercials then usual.

My opinion is that the radio was made to entertain us. The music on stations such as Kiss 108 or 103.3 AMP Radio does have the power to continue to attract its listeners. Songs such as "We Can't Stop", "American Girl" and "Blurred Lines" all have phenomenal beats but the messages they are portraying are not the best. These songs encourage partying, drinking and one night stands. Therefore these songs and the stations playing these songs attract their listeners by appealing to their life styles or their desired lifestyles. 

As I have mentioned, radio station's purpose is to entertain its listeners. The songs they play attract the listener to the station for entertainment. The commercials produce the station but that is all. They are not there to maintain listeners but to fund their own product or business in a place in which they know is highly populated.