"Truth" wrote in message ...
It's really very easy to maintain a limited spot load -- when you
sell out, you raise your rates to the point where you're not quite
sold out...and keep doing that, over and over.

Wow, someone else finally figured this out. Good for you. People I
would explain
this simple logic to, would be too afraid to try it because they never
want to lose any
advertiser and would rather have lots of advertisers and spots and low
pay, than a few
advertisers paying a lot more.

Many station groups have long limited commercial percentages to well below
what is considered excessive. There is nothing new in this. Oddly, back in
the 50's and 60's when many claim such great radio was done, the FCC had to
actually create an implied guideline of 18 minutes an hour. Most stations
today are well below that, and one I work with are in the 10 minute range
consistently.

Problem is, if you are programming ****, you can only charge $5 a spot.

FIRST you get good programming. THEN you have a small sales staff of 3
or 4 people to
handle incoming calls from Budweiser, McDonalds, etc. If you have to
go out and get
advertisers, then your programming sucks.

Advertisers do not call stations, especially big ones. Radio does not work
this way, advertising does not work this way, marketing does not work this
way

This has the added
benefit of driving marginal businesses and slow-paying accounts off
your station and onto your cheaper competition. Salespeople make more
money with less work. Everybody wins. Once upon a time most
successful stations did this. Yes, you have to cut rates in slack
periods, but if managed correctly the overall trend is always up.

Finally someone here that talks some sense.

This is nothing new. I ran a top rated FM in the late 60's that ran 2
minutes of spots an hour. It billed as much as any station in the market.
There are plenty of examples of this.