Eric F. Richards wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote:

Those days are long gone. But remember, a jock acknowledging a long
distance listener on the air, is and was even then, largely a novelty.
It doesn't reflect what's happening in the PD's office with the Arbitron
book, or how they compute rates for the Sales department.

Working in Chicago, having listeners in South Fox Crotch, Tennesee is
good for the ego. Hell, I sat in for the night jock one evening at KWKH
and took a request from Crayford, south of London. A great stroke. But
hardly saleable. And in the US, Radio is always about the money.

Actually, my favorite acknowledgement was from a college party in
Miami. I personally listened because I was a geek and thought it was
cool, and it became VERY interesting listening during the blackout of
77.

Now, CKLW is not representative of what happens in radio in the US.
At time to which you refer, radio stations in Canada were licenses to
print money. There were more radio stations in Illinois than the whole
of Canada, and the Canadian model for broadcast is vastly different than
it is in the US, specifically because of the large unserved areas
between radio stations.

But CKLW's target was the US, not Canada at all, and they made no
bones about it. I'm sure they were in Windsor rather than Detroit
because of costs, but their target audience was south of the border.


For that matter, last time I was in San Diego (quite some time ago,
actually), the dial was packed with stations in Mexico targeting SD.



You make my point for me. Again, the target audience is of limited
size. Because there's no practical sales value beyond a certain point.
Audience for CKLW is for practical purposes outside of the ADI,
unmeasurable. Where there is a measured audience, it's small compared to
the locals, and not saleable. But even if it were comparatively large,
and I've worked in markets downstate where WLS and WGN were rated and
contenders against the locals, there still wasn't a practical sales
value. So, for all intents that matter, that audience isn't a
consideration. Hence IBOC interference issues outside of the ADI are not
a consideration. If you're going to argue objectionable interference, it
has to be within the ADI.

As for the CKLW target. Practically speaking, the were a Detroit
station. And they sold the Detroit market. Nonetheless, they were a
Canadian station, and different rules, different business models apply
than those for US stations. Targets are one thing. Rules are another.
And location determines the rules. Not targets.

One of the things that's easily forgotten, is that Radio is an
entertainment business. (loose definitions apply.) What you hear is
often not really what it seems. There's a lot behind the curtain that is
intentionally not on display before the listening audience. Meaning that
what you hear is often not what you get.

A long distance dedication is a great ego boost to the jocks at the
station and the PD running the show. It's great to have your name
smeared across multiple states.

But as a practical business tool, it's only an imaginary benefit. The
business model is something quite different. And practical realities far
more limited than what's implied to those on your side of the grille cloth.