Re: Tai filling in for Jerry

[Mike Thomas <nostatic@earthlink.net>]

dan.strassberg@att.net wrote:

> . If a commercial station airs no spots or only PSAs,
> listeners quickly get the idea that the format is
> failing and won't last. I'm sure that a complete absence
> of spots, except during a period of stunting, hurts
> ratings, just as an excess of spots does.

I seriously doubt that the average listener notices the difference between
spots and PSA's.  And I'm sure they don't make the connection to whether
or not the station is "failing" by the content of their stopsets.  They
view a stopset as an interruption in programming, nothing more.  However,
business and advertising types can tell the difference, and that is who
WMEX is trying to attract by airing lots of spots.  Still, since almost
all of these spots are national, not local, any ad guy can figure out that
most of these are barter spots.

> As for networks from which WMEX might be acquiring the
> spot inventory, I think the Wall St Journal Business
> Report, which WMEX also airs in AM drive, may be
> responsible for more of that inventory than Fox News is.

It's possible that WMEX has latched onto broadcastspots.com, where
stations around the country offer to sell their unsold inventory, usually
at discounted rates, to agencies that subscribe to the service.  Since
WMEX "serves" Boston, a major market, it would seem attractive for some
companies to clear some spots on the station for cheap.

Mike Thomas
WXLO & Mediabase 24/7