Sven Franklyn Weil wrote:
Ditto, why cluster all the spots in 10 minute sweeps twice an hour
instead of breaking them up into frequent two or three minute breaks
so it SEEMS like less commercials are being played?

That's the part that confuses me. We've got music stations that
announce "coming up next -- 9 in a row". They mean 9 songs, but if you
listen often enough you quickly learn that also means 9 minutes of
advertising [0] - i.e., that announcement is your cue to change stations...

I suppose since the ratings don't show whether someone was listening
during the ads - only that they were listening - that if clumping the
spot load increases the numbers the rest of the hour it makes short-term
economic sense. One just has to wonder what will happen when the
advertisers start finding they get a smaller increase in sales per
thousand "ears" bought?

(indeed I note the station in the bad example above has begun to promote
"fewer commercials, more music" and indeed appears to have broken up
their spot load across the hour)
--
Doug Smith W9WI
Pleasant View (Nashville), TN EM66
http://www.w9wi.com
[0] not 100% certain I'm exaggerating!