Posts Tagged ‘commercials’

Morning Show Scope: WRKT (Rocket 101)

Editor’s Note: Make sure you visit The Press and Tower tomorrow for our Halloween special…Classy 100’s Ron Arlen helps us with a special remembrance and I’ll give you a hint: you won’t have to read the post “backwards” to get the real message.

This is the third in our series of excerpts from Erie radio morning shows. We call them “scopes,” where we eliminate all of the commercials and music to “telescope” and focus on the air personality content.

The Rocket 101 Morning Crew of Mojo and Nat have the distinction of being Erie radio’s longest running morning show, having been together for 15 years. Allen Carpenter as AC joined the crew last spring. Rocket is tied for third place in the Spring 2008 book, obviously deriving much of their strength from the consistency of their morning show.

Take a listen to the scope and please offer your constructive comments, and I’ll weigh in sometime this weekend.

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Some famous political commercials

So next week at this time we “should” know who the president-elect is and we will be able to watch Dancing With The Stars or a football game without seeing the guy with the protruding ears, or the protruding cheek.

But there’s still a good full week of political commercials to go, so I thought I’d exasperate the issue by showing famous political ads from days gone by.
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The Feed for Friday, October 17th

Editor’s note: We created “Deep Background,” to be our totally-random open discussion of all things Erie media. Join in on the fun!

  • No news for you: these are salad days for television stations in swing states, with plenty of demand for political time 2 ½ weeks before the election. It appears that the demand for commercial time has trumped programming priorities at WICU. Over the past several mornings, instead of the typical local news cut-in during the Today show at 7:25, viewers were fed 6 minutes of non-stop spots, nearly all political. Meanwhile WJET and WSEE ran at least minimal local news and weather breaks as part of their morning shows. A request for an explanation from Ch. 12 went unanswered. I’m sorry, but I just can’t imagine the NBC affiliate in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, or Harrisburg preempting their traditional Today show newsbreak for nothing but spots no matter how lucrative…this is just “bush league.” (more…)

Morning Show Scope: WXKC (Classy 100)

We are at it again, putting on our programming hat and evaluating Erie’s morning personalities. Here’s what we are looking for when doing an air check evaluation: relevance, concise thoughts, quick pace, tight board operation, and empathy and connection with the target listeners. Hear how well the personalities do with those key outcomes as you listen to the scope.

The Breakfast Club on Classy 100 has a rich 20-year history. Chuck Priestap and Brenda Savelli are only the third fourth unique team on the morning show since Dana Bolles signed on the format in the mid-1980’s.
We will be listening to Monday morning’s 7:00 hour. Once again, take a listen and weigh-in, and then I’ll give my evaluation in the comments Friday. Remember, stay constructive and civil; your favorite may be next!

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Morning Show Scope: WRTS (Star 104)

This is the first in a regular feature where you can sit in the radio programmer’s chair and evaluate Erie’s morning personalities. Whether I was on the receiving or giving end of an air check evaluation what we listened for included relevance, concise thoughts, quick pace, tight board operation, and empathy and connection with the target listeners. As you listen to the scoped air check, keep those values in mind.

We start with Erie’s most listened morning show, Warvel and Curry on Star 104.
We pulled Tuesday morning’s 7:00 hour to hear how they are doing in these early weeks of the ratings period. After you’ve had your chance to listen and weigh-in, I’ll give my evaluation in the comments Friday. Remember we want constructive and civil criticism, and keep from any partisan attacks; you never know when we’ll be putting your station under the microscope!

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The American President…on YouTube

Perhaps in prior election years, you may have had an odd video tribute to a presidential candidate end up on a random website here or there.

But in this era of YouTube, which didn’t exist in the last election cycle, you have the new media of homemade political ads. Of course you have probably heard of the Obama Girl videos, the original appearing in June 2007 (I Got a Crush…on Obama) and at this writing has reach over 9.7 million views.

An ad for Obama uses an historical perspective to make its case:

A homemade ad created by a McCain voter has received some strong media attention recently:


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Microsoft answers Mac guy with Jerry Seinfeld

This weekend’s NFL football games featured a 90-second television ad for Microsoft featuring Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Gates shopping for shoes and eating churros. What any of this has to do with moving the Vista platform off the shelf is beyond me.

The spot is quite random, with the discussion of discount shoes and showering with your clothes on. In fact the word “Microsoft” is said only once during the spot. But hiring Seinfeld for a reported $10 million and allowing him to do his “yadda, yadda, yadda” routine might help lighten up the image of the monolithic corporation and its struggling operating system. The campaign is getting mixed reviews. What do you think?


Video: Shoe Circus