I know that it’s been discussed for the last few years that some radio stations will briefly tape delay the syndicated programs that they carry so that they can speed up the program’s audio and fit in another couple of advertisements during the program (for every hour of programming they probably pick-up another 30 or 60 seconds they can allocate for local ad placement). Frankly this doesn’t bother me because the increase in tape rate is so subtle that it is barely (if at all discernable).
But today as I was driving in my car I caught the last half hour of the Rush Limbaugh show on
Cleveland’s
WTAM and thought that the commercials sounded really weird.
It seemed pretty obvious to me that they had increased the speed of the audio for local ads (one ad with veteran actor Jeff Daniels raving about the state of Michigan sounded like a midget whose testicles were being squeezed and another with former Cleveland radio staple and long-time Muni Court media relations guy
Ed “Flash” Ferenc on behalf of “Our Lady of the Wayside” had the former Buzzard speaking at a level about 3 octaves higher due to the increase in speed). The rate of speed was so noticeable that the ads were irritating.
I would be a little leery of buying ad time on The Big One if your 30 second spot only runs for 25…
