How Many Spots Is Too Many?

It’s a question the radio industry has been battling for many years, but never really has addressed in a serious way, despite study after study where listeners complain about the commercial clutter. The pressure to sell more is as great as its ever been. However no matter how much you sell there are only 60 minutes in an hour, and listeners are turned off by the clutter. So how many spots is too many?

Dan Mason

The answer to that question, according to former CBS Radio President Dan Mason, is no more than 8 to 10 spots per hour. And, radio managers know the majority of radio stations today play way more than that.

Mason told the RadioInk audience last week that he’s not telling them how to do it, because, he says he doesn’t know how. “I’m just telling you that’s reality. Keep in mind that when FM radio came about, we were going up against AM radio. AM radio stations were fat, dumb and happy. They were making a fortune. They were running 16 to 17 minutes an hour of commercials. They were printing money in the back room. All of sudden, this thing called FM comes along and they were probably running 6 to 8 minutes an hour and listeners were like “Wow. What just happened here? I heard more music instead of all of these commercials over and over and over.”

And, Mason says over time that number of commercials crept up. and now FM stations are running 14, 16, 15, units every hour and it’s probably too much.”

And, as for the debate over 30’s or 60’s, Mason says that doesn’t really matter. “I used to fight with our program directors all the time and say “It doesn’t make any difference. It’s time out of music.” You could play that game and think that your listeners are noticing “Oh, they ran a 30. Oh, it’s a 60. That’s really two commercials.” In my opinion, they don’t care. It’s time out of music.