Radio Radio

I found myself listening to a bit of the NPR and a bit of the Mix 107.3 today (the latter while getting a hair cut) and it has led me to a few observations for the day:


First, regular radio ads are painfully annoying and they don't need to be. I literally cringe when I hear the forced banter and horribly exaggerated voices of normal radio ads. And yet NPR has advertising as well, but it is in the form of underwriting which is spoken by the staff of the radio station. This ensure no gimmickry, sound effects of crazy voices. And you know what? Through the sheer amount of repetition, it works. I know all of the adverts and sponsors on NPR and if you listen regularly, you do to. Of the top of their head, everyone who listens to WAMU can tell you:

Who sponsors the Edutopia?
What services can you now get on Angieslist?
What's the newest freshest color of the Aeron Chair now available?

Second, never ever ever on a live interview tell someone that "The answer is on our company blog," as Craig of Craigslist did during an interview on NPR today. I don't doubt for a second that the answer is really and truly there, but it's a RADIO INTERVIEW. When someone asks a question, you have to at least pretend to answer the question. It was very strange that someone so honest that he admitted both that he's only had one great idea in life and that he's not a particularly great CEO would go to such lengths to dodge a query. Yes, it was about nasty things like Craigslist killers and "Adult Services" but at the very least you could have condemned the killing and vaguely touched on the change in "services" without having to dodge the question completely.

And last but certainly most important, today NPR interviewed local hero and all around great artist Tim Tate. It made my day.