The Longest Break

September 5, 2025

There is not a current or former Program Director (ok, Content Manager) alive today who could listen to the #1 station in any market and not pick it apart. That’s kind of our thing.

I have not been inside a radio station in quite some time, but I still have those instincts. Given that my role is now one of data analyst, I try to avoid any kind of consultant style critiques.

Then, I went on a brief road trip. Out of curiosity I decided to listen to a big market music station. Here’s what happened:

The first thing I see on my radio screen is the station’s slogan: “Nobody plays more 80’s.”That was an instant credibility jolt. Sirius/XM has an 80’s channel. Spotify and the like have the same. Terrestrial radio no longer competes with the radio dial. Consumers have more choices than ever before.

As the song I punched into faded away, the station went into a stop set. It started with a promo for a commercial free hour later in the day. Then came the barrage of spots. Usually, my attention span won’t allow me to count the commercials, especially when I’m doing 75 miles per hour. But I forced myself to pay attention.

There were twelve units in that block. Twelve! Including a Verizon Wireless and T-Mobile spot back-to-back. The block ended with a sponsored rejoiner that featured the client’s jingle. If you’re keeping score, that’s a 14-unit break. Is anyone sitting through that?

I admit – most of my radio listening is to spoken word programming. So, I’m not sure if what I heard was typical of all music radio. I suspect that stop set was not atypical.

I punched in and out for the next hour or so. I heard one “live” person who was likely voice tracked. Their “break” between two songs consisted of a promo and a sponsored weather forecast.

Radio loves to tout “live and local.” We preach about having an emotional connection with our listeners. However, do we actually deliver that on a consistent basis? Radio no longer owns the music hill. Consumers can hear whatever they want, whenever they want. That is one reason why we are seeing declining TSL (AWTE) with the 18-34 crowd.

That same crowd devours podcasts, which is a fancy term for “spoken word content.” So interesting talk is not a tune out.

I love radio. I believe in the power of radio. I also see the numbers. Are we still providing listeners with entertainment, involvement, and connection? Or are we just a vehicle to pump out a string of agency generated commercials?

I know there are great broadcasters still doing great radio. Hopefully, they are the rule and not the exception.

-Steve Allan, Programming Research Consultant

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