Try 20-30 minutes of commercials. Used to be that there would be, at max, about four three-minute clusters of spots during drive time.
Now that equation would be a bargain. An e-mailer recently counted seven straight minutes of spots on KNBR, a tease by the afternoon hosts, followed by more than four more minutes of commercials.
Hello satellite.
How do you feel?
**COMING SOON: Power struggle upstairs at KPIX? Between the new GM, ND and a multiple of managers, frayed nerves at 855 Battery.
*PLUS: The Central Subway, better known as the "Subway to Nowhere": why is no media outlet or investigative reporters doing any looking into the individuals behind this massive SF boondoggle? There's a lot to look at.
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Alright Rich - NOW YOU'RE SPEAKING MY LANGUAGE!!! This has been a pet-FUCKING-peeve of mine for years! KNBR is notorious for commercials. it is really freaking obnoxious. I was in traffic one day and counted that for every 9 minute segement, there were 6 - 7 minutes worth of commercials. Let's keep in mind that those segments usually take a good 1-2 minutes to get to anything of substance with when you factor in the babbling banter between the co-host or the host and producer.
ReplyDeleteWhile there were many reasons, one of the main reasons I started listening to DBruce on 1050 was that his segments to commercial ratio was much greater than the hacks on 680. But as Damon has gotten bigger, there isn't much difference between the two.
My solution? I went ahead and activated the Satellite feature on my car. I'll still listen to Damon and Jim Rome, and if I need comedy, I'll listen to Hannity for half a segment. Otherwise I'm listening to Stern, ESPN radio, CNBC and other stations with less than half of the interruptions.
Why? It's simple - it got to the point with me where I was simply not getting enough value from the segments and their content to justify sitting through an onslaught of erribly produced commercials including kars for kids and b.s. like that.
Honestly, its one of my best decisions for 2013.
This makes me nuts too! KNBR breaks for commercials about 15 mins after and before the hour and the break lasts about 7 minutes and I might be light on that. When they come back they talk for about 5 minutes and then break again about 25 after or 5 minutes before the hour. The five minutes of talk in between is always about nothing. They seldom take calls and most often that 5 minutes of jada jada has very little to do with the topic that preceeced it.
ReplyDeleteAll the hosts do it and I often wonder if they have orders to yada yada during that time.
What I do is go to a different station when they break at the 15's and I don't come back until the longer segments that start after the top of the hour and at 36 minutes past the bottom of the hour if I come back at all. Those are the only 2 breaks worth listening to.
I also have satellite but like the local news and sports that you don't get on there.
I just expect KNBR to be in a commercial "break" any time I tune in after the first fifteen minutes of each half hour.
ReplyDeleteWhat's worst is the 1 minute "rejoin" at around the :55 mark that goes right back into another long commercial break, followed by the top of the hour sports update before resetting the table for the next hour. It's the radio equivalent of the "touchdown, commercial, kickoff, commercial" routine seen during nationally-televised NFL games.
So, basically, I'll listen to KNBR from :03-:12 and maybe again from :33-:42 and avoid the Kars 4 Kids, Drs. Hyver/Rosenelli and the latest updates on the Mattress Wars. 18 minutes per hour. Nice job, programming monkeys.
yes, this is exactly how i listen these days. i know the break points of my favorite shows so i can flip over to FM. i fill the punishing blabber time with KQED or 91.1 and then dial back in...
DeleteThis is why having 97.5 competing awesome you can jump back and forth between stations.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately KCBS has also gotten worse with the number and length of their commercials. When you add in traffic and weather every 10 minutes there is hardly any time for actual news.
ReplyDeleteWhen will you old white fat men get a hobby? A.M. Radio has been dead for years. Move on!
ReplyDeleteThat AM band is going HD Digital. Don't forget it was a hobby before it became commericial. Like so many things in Radio technology today!
DeleteYou got the old white part correct! I prefer "angry old white man!"
DeleteThis is why I love TiVo so much for TV; I can record the program and fast forward through all the interruptions. I've moved over to satellite radio as well.
ReplyDeleteI used to work KNBR and I remember once we did a 12, (yes that's right...12!) minute cluster of commerials and promos, split up with one quick sports update. Unbelievable! We started KNBR, 'THE commerecial leader!'
ReplyDeleteIf there are to be any changes at KPIX, they won't happen until March, after the February book.
ReplyDeleteThrow in the on-air reads and it can be incredibly frustrating.
ReplyDeleteIts being said that within ten years..driver less cars will be on the road. That will mean you can watch TV as your car takes you to your destination. THAT will kill off AM radio.
ReplyDelete