I drove down to Chicago from Northern Wisconsin on Tuesday. This trip takes me through roughly 4 radio station “markets.” I swear in everyone of them there was at least one station that had the “Two-for Tuesday” promotion.
I can’t believe this promotion/gimmick enhances their ratings in any way. I don’t mind hearing an old Steely Dan tune or something, but if I want to hear more I’ll play the damn tape! Most of the time I actually switched AWAY from thse stations when they started the second song by the same artist.
Does anyone know if this type of gimmick actually helps ratings? Or does it just keep the lunch-time guy from going insane?
Radio broadcast stations and TV “news” shows are the worst for jumping on the promotion bandwagon. It is almost an incestual relationship.
Some station, somewhere, will come up with a promotion, gimmick, giveaway, etc., and before you know it, every market will have a station doing the same lame thing. Same sound effects and everything. Some of this is due to Corporate ownership of many stations; some because of plain old lack of ingenuity.
Heck, this is from a business that tries to pass off a weather forcaster or traffic reporter as a local entity, when in actuality, the report is coming from some centralized location and fed to stations all over the country.
For example, I though my local radio station when I was in high school had a weatherman named Alan Archer. He was always giving weather reports for the local area. When I moved 1000 miles away, I was surprised to see that Alan Archer did the weather there also! And yet again in another market after a 3rd move!
Radio and local TV news both conduct their business as though they consider the general population to be complete morons.
We have a radio station that does “Three for Thurdsay”. Sometimes when there’s a good band on it’s ok, but it makes me want to change the tuner to something with a little more variety.
-Dragwyr
“If God had meant for man to eat waffles,
he would have given him lips like snowshoes”
-Rev. Billy C. Wirtz
Ahem. The proper spelling is t-o-o-t-h-e-r, but pronounced in baby talk so it comes out “toofer”.
Just kidding. I can’t imagine it helps ratings either, but I must be wrong about the whole radio ratings things in major ways, because I can’t imagine that “BE THE ELEVENTH CALLER AND WIN ELEVEN KAZILLION DOLLARS” promos are effective either, but they must be, or the station wouldn’t spend 11 kazillion dollars on them.
Other inexplicably successful radio gimmicks:
DJs who shout all them time and act excited (rock/pop station stereotype)
DJs who whisper all the time and act like they’ve just popped a bunch of quaaludes (classical station stereotype)
CHOOOZ YER NOOOZ!!!
That lame little jingle in which the station’s call letters and frequency are sung by that one coed singing group. This jingle is the same for every private radio station in the country, and possible in the local supercluster. It is horrible. It is why I never listen to commercial radio. Yes, the stupid call-letter jingle is more effective than the commercials themselves (ONLY $19.99! THAT’S RIGHT $19.99! $19.99 FERCRYINOUTLOUD!) at keeping me away.
Sorry, it’s just that this is something I’m very bitter about, having several years of experience with radio-fan coworkers and carpool partners.
The latest is “The Birthday Game”. What are the odds that the caller’s birthday will match the month, day and year that that has been selected? To my knowledge, nobody has won yet.
Still a former smoker
All those who believe in telekinesis raise my hand.
One more: In a commercial, local deejay John Records (that’s his real middle name) Landecker is going to stand on his head until we listen to his oldies show.
He’ll have “Herman Munster Head” before I even consider listening to his lame show.
All those who believe in telekinesis raise my hand.
Naw, birthday games have been around for quite some time. I remeber getting all worked up over the fact that the Morning Zoo might spin my birthdate on the the birthday wheel some morning when I wasn’t listening, so I always tuned in. Of course, this was while I was in elementary school. They spun the month and the day, and a person with that birthday would call in and win a prize. Then they’d spin another wheel with years on it and they’d win a bigger prize if it was the caller’s birthyear.
How short of an attention span does one have to have to become so restless at the prospect of spending six to eight minutes listening to music from a single artist that one must reach for the tuner?
Yes , but this is the new, MILLION DOLLAR BIRTHDAY GAME! :rolleyes:
Otto: I can’t speak for others, but when it comes to music, I’m pretty restless. If a song comes on that I don’t like, I must either change the station or turn the damn thing off. Just my nature, I guess.
Still not smoking
All those who believe in telekinesis raise my hand.
That’s the power of choice. Why should I listen to something when I don’t want to and I have other choices. I suppose I could just lock my radio to one station forever and listen to whatever they play and say, but I’d rather have some choice in the matter.
Here in boston, we had a Radio Station where the afternoon guys promoted “Whip 'em out Wednesday” advising women to flash male motorists while driving on the highway. This went on for several months until “Opie and Anthony” were fired for announcing that Boston mayor, Tom Menino, was killed in a car accident an April fool’s day prank… I think they’re working in New York city now.
I’m not saying that one doesn’t have the perfect right to turn off one’s own radio, or that one should listen to a song that one doesn’t like just because it’s on. I’m talking about the people who, when faced with the idea of hearing two songs in a row by the same artist, think it’s a terrible idea because they could listen to a tape if they wanted to do that. They act like they’re so put upon by this. There was no talk in the OP of the artist being objectionable or the songs being disliked; it was the very idea of daring to play two songs in a row by the same artist that was found to be so appalling.