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Barry Fox
Barry Fox just celebrated his 36th year in radio broadcasting and has worked in a variety of markets including Nashville, Memphis, Louisville, and Lexington, KY.
For the past 4 years Barry has served as the Program Director for Capitol Broadcasting’s AC WRAL-FM in Raleigh, NC. Barry is a native Kentuckian and is married with a 14 year old daughter.
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Radio broadcasters have been challenged over the past decade to rethink the way they do just about everything to remain relevant.
One constant appears to be the commercial spot load, a sore point with programmers and listeners alike and a subject that has usually met resistance from management. Since the mid 90’s, two 6:00 stop sets has been the accepted norm in most markets with a few exceptions in various formats.
With the inception of Arbitron’s PPM, Programmers and Air Personalities have learned that talk set length really does matter. It needs to be brief and good.
Why shouldn’t the same standard be applied to advertisers?
Is a :60 commercial really that effective? Couldn’t the same message be delivered in :30, :15 or even as little as :10 and still generate traffic? Broadcasters are entertaining their audience in :10 to :15 breaks daily, why can’t the advertisers do the same.
Imagine the refreshing sound a station might have by simply playing a :10 message between a couple of songs multiple times per hour?
Listeners will be inclined to not tune out, the ratings will increase, the advertiser’s message will be heard and they will see results. Everybody wins!
And what about the spot rate? Should length really matter if the message delivers the desired results? Isn’t an effective :10 more valuable than a bland :60 or :30 that no one hears?
Pandora got it right. How long before terrestrial radio figures it out? The clock is ticking…
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