TV OR NOT TO TV.
And now, a commercial break!” What do you think when you hear those words?
Do you groan? Or are you among those who say: “Well, it's about time!”
When a commercial intrusion becomes something special to anticipate and enjoy it suggests that something may be lacking in the program itself.
The very nature of the “commercial break” has changed over the years. It has changed in position, frequency, relation to the program content materials, length, complexities, cost and in it's intended purposes.
The term itself has a “plural” atmosphere about it, too. It has many parts now and it is now positioned much more freely. Older regulations required that the product or service be “mentioned” in a short opening and closing announcement of the program period. Two one-minute “messages” were allowed within each fifteen minute segment. That had been the pattern in radio and TV followed obediently since we were, very often, the same people doing both.
Radio, itself, underwent serious alterations when TV came into the entertainment scene. Network and local programming as such, ceased to be and the juke box mode took over in one manner or another - some even automatic – while others worked their way into highly successful all-news or all-talk stations,sometimes blended with sports emphasis or other specific turn.
At the same time innovations were taking place in the taping aspects in both radio and TV, evident in the switch from live studio work to radio and TV augmented. In radio it was evident in the switch from live, to reel,-to- reel taped spots, then, cassettes. Program content could be varied with many voices, with music as decoration, sound effects and more dimensions than it had ever had before.
No one, it appears, is ready to admit who started it, but commercials began he heard in packages. A bundle of them... or, a series “seeded” with bits of music, transitional bits on the weather, the time, road announcements, public service spots, chit-chat by personalities or, at times, a humorous item from the news machine. It became common practice to play a cassette commercial after every record played; do an intro for the next tune “coming up after this word!” Zing! Another message!
Be picky, if you like. Count the commercials. I've tallied up a dozen several times. Seven commercials mixed with promo spots and public service announcements is not unusual.
I am quite comfortable with it all as it is. It doesn't bother me too much because I was on other end for so many years and I see it working. It is by far, the best system evolved as yet when compared to foreign operations.
TV enjoyment, radio, for that matter, is a matter of individual selection.
Yes, I will agree. Some commercials are better than some programs. More money for production! All kinds of talent from the shows! But, I do wish they would not run the same ones so often.
And, stop complaining please, about the length of old movies shown. They might well have been new when the show started.
A.L.M. October 28, 2002 [c524wds]
