portable devices, such as MP3 players and cell phones, also have built-in
radios, allowing people on the go to listen to their favorite programs—most
of which include advertisements. While radio ads are more cost effective,
they must rely on sound effects, music and text to create images.
Satellite radio stations, such as XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Radio,
have launched a new trend in radio broadcasting: commercial-free
radio. By paying a subscription fee, satellite radio users can tune in to
thousands of music and talk channels from around the world with no
commercial interruption.
With more than a billion users worldwide, the Internet has quickly
become one of the major contenders for ad dollars. Many Web sites are
packed with ad-based banners and pop-up windows to help fund the
sites. Some companies also use e-mail to advertise their products and
services. These e-mail ads are the high-tech version of direct mail, or
advertisements you get in the regular mail. Pop-up ads, which most Web
users consider nuisances, have become so commonplace that many Web
browsers now contain pop-up blockers. Some experts even predict that
companies will soon spend more money on Internet advertising than
they will on print, television and radio ads.Print Advertising
Pioneering broadcast journalist Eric Sevareid pointed to the strength and
potential of newspapers when he said, “One good word is worth a thousand
pictures.” Newspapers can and do use photography and art as a means of
telling or strengthening a story, but the print medium can’t incorporate
sound or movement as radio and television do. Still, the print medium con-
tinues to be a popular choice for advertisers for a number of reasons.(^382) PRODUCING THE NEWS
OutTake
Instant Profits
Infomercials are a relatively new
phenomenon that started in 1984 after
the Federal Trade Commission lifted all
restrictions on how much commercial
time local TV stations could sell. Most of
them run late at night, when entire hours
can be bought cheap (and when bleary-
eyed, lonely viewers are most suscep-
tible to suggestions)—a slot known
in the television trade as “remnant air
time”—and although they cost little to
produce, they can make fortunes. Time
magazine reported that the 30-minute
Kitchenmate Mixer infomercial, which
showed a woman turning skimmed milk
into luxurious whipped cream, bread
into bread crumbs, and oil into mayon-
naise, was produced for $125,000 and
generated $55 million in sales. More
than 20,000 different infomercials are
broadcast on stations around the coun-
try, and their total take is estimated at
about $1 billion dollars a year. In 1991
the Home Shopping Network started a
24-hour-a-day infomercial-only channel.
“A 60-second spot goes by so fast,”
said Nancy Langston of infomercial pro-
ducer Media Arts International. “In a half-
hour, we allow time to demonstrate and
repeat and demonstrate and repeat. It’s
really an incredible way to sell a prod-
uct.” Some products, however, have
defied successful infomercialization.
According to Bernice Kanner, writing
in New York magazine, these included
back-pain cures, improve-your-garden
products, and a videotape starring
Walter Cronkite, Nancy Reagan, and
Morgan Fairchild titled How to Raise
Drug-Free Kids. Greg Renker explained,
“Our audience wants instant, effort-
less success, fame, or beauty.”
Source: Reprinted with permission from
Jane Stern and Michael Stern, Encyclopedia
of Pop Culture (New York: HarperCollins).