During the trip, we heard a commercial for a car dealer, a commercial for a furniture store, a promo for a weekend show, a station bumper (a short ID), a commercial for a fast food chain, and a commercial for something else. We arrived at our destination without having heard a single note of music (save the music beds for the commercials).
After dropping her off, I headed home. I turned off the radio and turned on my iPod. It picked up the "This Week in Media" (TWIM) podcast that I had started listening to the earlier right where I had left off. I listened to six minutes of in-depth conversation about new media business models before arriving home.
And lest you think this is a totally unfair comparison of commercial vs. non-commercial programming, be aware that TWIM also has advertising. That particular episode was sponsored by Audible.com and Gotomypc.com. Both commercials were embedded in the program. Rather than used pre-produced spots, the ad copy was read by the show host and commented on by the panel. In essence, the ads became a continuation of the panel's conversation.
Theoretically, I could have fast-forwarded through the commercials, but since the conversation flowed in and out of them it would have been kind of a pain -- and the panel made the spots interesting enough to listen to anyway.
One media delivered -- the other didn't. My experience was not unique. And neither was my inclination to turn off the radio.
- Ralph
Day 82 of the WJMA Web Watch.
