If there’s any medium more cluttered with commercials than radio, that medium would be TV. Or is it? Some signs suggest that the powers-that-be in TV-land sense a turning point. Witness these words from Kevin Reilly, president of the TBS and TNT cable nets last week at the TCA winter press tour: We have overstuffed the bird. We need to create a better viewing experience. A “better viewing experience”? How about a “better listening experience,” radio broadcasters?How about a b

There’s this myth out there that its the personalization that provides the primary motivation to use Pandora: The limitless allure of choice and variety. But I don’t think so. I think it’s much more about the comparatively clutter-free environment. That is, fewer spots. The “variety” argument: Everywhere we turn, it’s clear that consumers favor hits. Even when he was onstage with me at hivio, the audio future festival last year, Pandora CTO Tom Conrad acknowledged that there

So there’s this medium-sized market unmeasured by Arbitron/Nielsen. And what does a broadcaster do when the ratings company doesn’t provide the disciplining force of audience feedback? Well, here they lard up the station with an unconscionable volume of commercials, that’s what! One Hot AC in this market even features the extraordinary listener benefit (I assume that’s what they call it) of 28 minutes of spots in the hour – in middays! No, I am absolutely not kidding. So what

The spot load on some radio stations continues to swell.  But how much is too much?  At what point will audiences and advertisers decide to take their listening and their business, respectively, elsewhere? A cautionary tale is as close as the nearest cable box. From Broadcasting & Cable: Viacom has come under fire lately for cluttering some of its channels with extra commercials in order to make up for advertising revenue shortfalls caused by lower ratings. But one little-not