The ad to the left appeared in the October issue of Blender magazine on page 52. It depicts a huge Viagra™ pill as a pictograph representing the various percentages of artists who are likely to get your parents hot (The Righteous Brothers beating out The Foo Fighters, Audioslave and The Killers by a landslide). The text at the bottom of the ad reads: 'Tons of Artists. Zillions of Songs. And oh yeah, it's free. Radio. Brought to you by America's 13,000 local radio stations that play artists like these every day.' This ad begs the question: In an era of "pod-safe" independent music, has commercial radio finally gone limp? 
With the increasing use of independent music on satellite radio, in films, television advertising and podcasting, commercial radio stations across the country are presumably feeling the pinch on their advertising budgets (not often, if evern, have we see a full-page ad in a major magazine defending the utility of commercial radio). New technology has finally given listeners a choice and many are opting to tune-out. But with the conglomeration and homogenization of radio stations across the country by behemoths like Clear Channel and Viacom, and controversial payola-like practices by so-called "independent promoters" placing the same handful of major-label artists in seemingly perpetual rotation, the radio industry, like the record industry, has come under increasing criticism for ignoring their listeners - particulary when it comes to including popular independent local artists in their regular music rotation or including community news in their broadcast at a convenient time.
The use of voice-tracking software, such as PROPHET, to insert the name of YOUR TOWN from anywhere on the globe into a story, in our opinion, is no substitution for the responsible use of a local public asset for the local public good.
Recent political victories for the inclusion of Low Power FM stations in Michigan (thanks in a large part to a local activist, formerly known as Tom Ness) has been very slow in coming due to the seeming collusion between the FCC and the extremely well-funded commercial radio lobby including The Michigan Association of Broadcasters.
Are you celebrating the demise of commercial radio with your iPod or are you still an avid radio listener? Have you abandoned traditional radio for commercial-free satellite radio? Can commercial radio ever win you back or is it high-time they made room on the dial for LPFM stations? Are there enough opportunities on local radio for independent artists or should there be more? Will the demise of free commercial radio go the way of free commercial television - where you pay to hear commercials?
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according to Stay Free Daily blog, Stuart Elliott's "In Advertising" column (NYTimes.com Tuesday, June 7, 2005) reported that the ad campaign was paid for by The National Association of Broadcasters ($28 million!) and created by DeVito/Verdi from New York.