Why I'm Changing Radio Volume While Driving

Die Die Die Die Die Die DIE

As a rideshare driver who

> Works nights and

> Likes and follows sports

I'm listening to a lot of games on the radio while driving. Most of the time, this is the Sixers, but Phillies games also are a reasonable spend of time, and pro football games on Monday, Thursday and Sunday nights are also pretty common.

Friends, I don't know if you've had this experience in a long time or ever, but... it's bad. Here's why.

> Radio advertising is an involved production event. You have to write a script, hire voiceover actors, get the levels right and cut it to time. There's an art to it. It's not easy.

> Radio advertising is not hitting an amazing demographic. It's men more than women who do rideshare and truck work, and we wouldn't be doing it if we were independently wealthy. 

> Radio advertising is not conducive to easy win/loss success metrics. You don't have click, open, direct purchase, qualified visitors, shares, likes and so on. It can look bad in comparison to digital advertising.

> You can't target the list. I drive a hybrid, I'm not particularly mechanically inclined, and I'm a progressive with dependents. I hear a lot of tool ads (NAPA KNOW HOW!) and PSAs about trains and donations to children's charities (you know the one), and so on. None of them are a good spend for the advertiser, or contribute to a good in-game experience. 

> It's not conducive to testing. Hard to make, lists aren't great, can't tell winners from losers. Just try your best and ship it becomes the rule of thumb.

> The advertisers that do it stick with it. There isn't really very much turnover. So you're going to hear the same ads, from the same companies, that didn't work when they were new. As the season gets longer, the ads don't refresh.

Now, decades ago? This wasn't really all that noticeable to the radio listener. All advertising stunk, none of it was targeted, and complaining about it was imagining a world that didn't exist.

But the world *has* changed. The ad experience in every other channel (with the unfortunate occasional example of badly executed CTV) *is* better. But not so much with radio. Radio increasingly feels like torture.

So if you are in the car and see me quickly dropping volume levels during breaks in the action for the Sixers game? It's because I'm trying not to think about Rothman Orthopedics for the 10,000th time. ("We are getting pretty darn good at sitting." Why does the old you sound so satisfied about their limited lifestyle? Why won't you just let them be, then? Damit, radio ad, build your cinematic universe better...)

Well, I'm not doing it for your benefit, honest...