While traveling a week ago through a small market, I heard the EAS test sponsored by an insurance company: "Had this been an actually emergency, are you fully insured?" I'm sure that you're wondering if the Legal ID was sponsored. Do you honestly think that I could stick around to listen at the top of the hour? Of course I did. And, no, they did not sponsor the TOH ID.
One small market station in upstate New York gave away a bag of chicken manure to luck caller 9. Why? The director of sales wanted to see if people would call in for any prize. The same director of sales was boasting about this ingenious idea at a recent pitch. You guessed it: He didn't make the buy.
A major market ad rep was telling my colleague how great our client's spots sounded on the air--AND, they're getting great run times, too! My colleague and I looked at each other and quietly smirked. Why? Because a production delay pushed the campaign start time back a week. The commercials hadn't been created yet.
"We don't subscribe to Arbitron," says a senior media rep, cold calling me for the first time. "We have our own ratings book." (She pulls out a book of quotes from various local advertisers.) After glancing at many testimonials from various small businesses, I came upon a glowing endorsement from a man whose name I recognized. The man was a dear friend of my parents. I suppose that I could have asked him for a referral, but it would be quite difficult. He died in 1992.
Bob Knight is VP of Advertising and Digital Media at Harrison Edwards in New York. Follow him on Twitter @BobKnightAdMan Please post your real radio story here, too!
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