Jeff on Sirius radio Wednesday morning

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Outlane said:
I have XM, and wouldn't go back to regular radio, for several reasons. Zero commercials and genre specific channels are the biggest ones.

Jerry

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XM is hardly commercial free. They are always playing commercials for some internet get rich quick scheme or some other shady sounding deal. I know that most talk stations on both systems have commercials, but on XM they have them on the music stations too. I have a pre-installed XM radio in my car and I did not renew it when the trial expired.

It depends on what channels you're listening to. Most of XM's music channels are commercial-free. Of the 170+ channels, around 70 or so are music channels, and only 4 or 5 of those have commercials (the ones operated by Clear Channel).

You're confusing sattelite's "commercial free" for what it really is.

Commercial Free MUSIC, is what both companies offer... the shows, comedy networks, Howard, Opie & Anthony... etc... are not commercial-free, nor do they advertise it as such... just the music.

It's all about the local college radio stations run by students playing indie rock. ;)

Clear Channel FM stations are horrid. I can't believe they still exist.

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Kick The Sky said:
..on XM they have them on the music stations too.

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Nope. Only the Clear Channel programmed stations (4, I believe) have commercials. The rest of the music channels are 100% commercial free. I don't listen to any of the CC channels, so it doesn't effect me (I stick to the Rock channel group).

You are correct, though, that both companies carry commercials on their "talk/sports" stations. Which is why when O&A go to a commercial, I switch to music. :)

Jerry

Howard's stations have plenty of commercials, and despite Stern's claims that his current commercial breaks are a lot shorter than they were when he was on regular radio, I don't feel that to be the case. And when the commercial well runs dry, they usually end up playing a song or two. I guess the cast needs that 15-minute break anyway?

I remember the commercial breaks for Stern's show on terra radio. I had an hour long commute at the time and I could only listen to his actual show about half the way.

There are WAY fewer commercials now. And if they start playing commercials, can either pop over to the West Coast feed, Raw Dog, or listen to one of the commercial free music stations. I think it is really worth the price. I only listen to regular radio when I want to pick up our local pbs station.

Congrats Jeff. I assume the replay is 8 EST.

Yeah, you can't talk for four hours straight, not pee, not get up to stetch or grab a drink. Plus they use that time to prepare for the next segmant.

The only time I lose signal is when I am under a thick blanket of trees while its raining or I am in a tunnel. I even get reception in some tunnels. My receiver is just above my passenger side rear door.

I didn't hear the show...how did it go? *** Edited 5/16/2007 4:40:55 PM UTC by eightdotthree***

I don't question the need for breaks, I just can't figure out why they seem as long as they once were. A 15-minute break every hour seems a bit excessive to me. I have a 30-minute commute to work and no matter how I seem to time it, I hear 15 minutes of show and 15 minutes of "break". Fortunately, those breaks allow me to switch over to the replay of Ferrall's show, which is usually covering sports around 8:30a,.

My 6 CD-changer has NO commercials.

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RatherGoodBear said:
My 6 CD-changer has NO commercials.

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Heh. That was such a 'millrace' response. ;)

Are you kidding me? I don't think millrace even owns a CD player. 8-track? Maybe.

LOL! That wouldn't surprise me.

Meant it more in reference to the idea of the "older/simpler is better" theme.

I know how you meant it. And you're so right, I'm sure even millrace would agree with you this one time.

Knowing Joe personally, I stand by my claim that any CD player he has is not a changer ;)

Typically on broadcast radio, there are no breaks in the first quarter hour because that's the part Arbitron uses for ratings. A typical clock puts the breaks around :20, :40 and :55. That's why channel surfing during a break generally just lands you on more commercials. Most of the time, when I was working, each break was around four minutes (except overnight).

Stern just consolidated his breaks and got them in before the end of the hour, which would result in 16-minute breaks.

But those breaks were dictated by the need for commercials on terrestrial radio, right? Considering he isn't able to fill all his break time with commercials, Stern technically doesn't have to take 16 minutes every hour on satellite, right?

Honestly, I've been a bit disappointed with Stern's show since the move. Something about it feels different, and it doesn't have to do with the lack of restrictions when it comes to cursing and so-called indecent content. I'm actually pissed that Stern broke the rule he created in the very beginning about not cursing up a storm because I think it takes away from the quality of the show. And this is coming from someone that uses four-letter words a lot more than he probably should.

What the hell?

I have a CD changer. I usually call it my hand.

I have never owned an 8-track

My wife's car has a CD player, my car has a tape deck.

I have a portable tape player and a portable CD player.

I do not have cable, I do not have a cell phone, I do not have an iPod, I do not have a blackberry, I do not have a laptop computer, I do not have assorted features built into my phone service. I do not have a DVR.

I do have a CD player. I have (and use) a VCR.

I do have a digital camera, an automatic point and shoot film camera, and an entirely manual SLR film camera.

I have a 15 year old 19 inch picture tube TV that is still going strong.

It's not about "older is simpler and better". It's about what works best for me now. Why spend $3000 for a new digital high def TV just so I can watch "This Old House" once a week? My thrift store rabbit ears work fine after about 5 minutes of adjustment!

Anything else?

Oh, and I ditched dial-up last year in favor of high speed. I thought I needed a small taste of what it felt like to be on the cutting edge of high technology.

*** Edited 5/16/2007 7:47:51 PM UTC by millrace***

So Jeff, since you're dropping so much knowledge about the radio biz...care to share what your old station's ad rates were on those ad rate cards?

Btw, go Cavs!!

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millrace said:

I do not have a cell phone

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Liar.

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Why spend $3000 for a new digital high def TV just so I can watch "This Old House" once a week?

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Because once you watch "This Old House" in hi-def, you won't go back ;)

And you can get a nice HD-LCD for about a grand now. Prices have come down so much since I bought mine just six months ago that I'm thinking of replacing the other two TVs. Of course, if I do that, I won't have money for that Six Flags VIP pass this summer so I'll have to go to parks with free parking.

Couldn't resist ;)

Anyway, what is the average for 30-second spots on a decent station in a big market? I'm familiar with TV rates but not radio rates.

*** Edited 5/16/2007 7:49:51 PM UTC by Rob Ascough***

OK, I don't have a cell phone that I use. I have an emergency travel phone I can use to break the window in my car if I accidently drive it into a lake.

re: TV. I see no need to create extra toxic garbage by throwing away something that is perfectly functioning. Especially since it is something I so rarely use anyway. I've seen a movie in high def. Whatever. I really don't care. I'm happy to just minimize the amount of interference.

I could buy a lot of drinks at Six Flags with that $1000!