Infomercials on WCRB!?

[Ric Werme]

I accidentally had my clock radio armed for 0545 Sunday and woke to the
non-melodious strains of a sale pitch for some dietary supplement.
I left it on and verified that the legal ID said WCRB and later found
that they had not completely changed their format from oft-played
classical shorts.

>From their playlist archive, note 2 hour gap:

7:26 AM: STANLEY: Trumpet Voluntary, Opus 6 #5 (ens.; Burns, Stephen, trumpet) ASV Records DCA-528

5:26 AM: PUGNI: Pas de Quatre (finale #8) (Cincinnati Pops/Erich Kunzel) Telarc Records 80625

One half hour spot was from the local AGO (American Guild of Organists) which
included a request for corporate sponsorship so that their 48 year presence
on WCRB can continue.  I guess they had a free ride until the new owners
decided that wasn't paying the bills.

I don't think I ever heard an infomercial on radio before.  Does anyone
know what a half hour of early Sunday AM time sells for?  Apparently
I'm just behind the times, Google says there are hundreds and hundreds
of thousands of pages referring to radio infomercial.  Ah, only 720 if
I quote it.  A couple that might be worth following up:

http://www.radioinfomercial.com/
This goes to a lame AOL hosted page.

http://www.philkaplan.com/thefitnesstruth/the_media.htm
This page is at least entertaining.  Fellow is incensed about a live sales
pitch while stuck in traffic and goes to the radio station and buys time
for his infomercials.  Or something like that.  If you can't beat 'em, join
'em.