Texas Station Interrupts Commercial Interruptions

TEXAS STATION INTERRUPTS COMMERCIAL INTERRUPTIONS
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride sarah.mcbride@wsj.com]
Dallas classic-rock radio station KZPS will flip to a rock-and-country hybrid format called Lone Star. But "Stairway to Heaven" won't be the only thing missing from the new station -- regular 30-second and 60-second advertisers won't be part of the lineup, either. Instead, the Clear Channel Communications Inc. station plans to weave in mentions of sponsors, no more than fifteen seconds at a time, throughout the regular programming -- a setup that is more akin to public radio than traditional commercial broadcasting. The move marks a radical extension of Clear Channel's "Less Is More" initiative, which aims to boost audience ratings by cutting the amount of advertising on each of its stations. The broadcast-radio industry, wavering in the face of competition from satellite radio and iPods, is eager for ideas that can create new opportunities. In this case, it is a gamble: The sponsorship plan will generate less revenue initially than regular commercials, though Clear Channel believes that, over time, listeners will flock to a station that isn't cluttered with advertising, allowing KZPS to collect higher sponsorship rates.
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