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- EXCLUSIVE - WABC (770 AM)
is using a digital "Cashbox" to squeeze even more commercials
into Rush Limbaugh's show, The Post has learned.
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- WABC, and hundreds of other stations nationwide, is testing
Cashbox ("CASH Radio Time Reduction"), which creates more minutes
per hour than there actually are.
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- Radio executives, under corporate pressure to keep delivering
double-digit revenue increases, are loathe to discuss their new technological
marvel -- and even industry trade publications have so far been mum on
the development.
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- Cashbox processes live talk shows like Limbaugh's while
they're on the air, digitally compressing gaps and pauses in speech in
order to allow as many as five additional commercial minutes each hour
-- above and beyond Limbaugh's normal maximum of 18 minutes per hour.
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- "I didn't know WABC was using it on Rush, but I
just found out that the WABC engineers knew all about it," said Kit
Carson, Limbaugh's long-time aide.
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- Attempts to reach Limbaugh, whose show is headquartered
at WABC, were unsuccessful by press time.
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- For years, radio and TV stations have been able to "massage"
pre-taped programs to speed them up in order to cram in more commercials.
But radio's new Cashbox slightly delays the beginning of actual live programs
so that more ads can be inserted beforehand.
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- Cashbox then spends the rest of the hour, or segment,
using on-the-fly digital compression so the show will still end on time
and make room for the next program or newscast.
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- For example, if Cashbox were used on Paul Harvey's signature
signoff --"Paul Harvey ...¤ Good ...¤ day -- it could
become "Paul Harvey G'day," turning the veteran ABC Radio commentator
into a Crocodile Dundee soundalike.
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- Pitch, however, isn't affected -- meaning Harvey would
not sound like Alvin the Chipmunk.
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- "The device already is widespread and being used
by companies like CBS/Infinity, Clear Channel and ABC," said Kraig
Kitchin, president/COO of Premiere, the network that syndicates Limbaugh,
Dr. Laura Schlessinger and others.
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- "This is year 2000 technology, and I'm for it if
it doesn't hurt the image of the host," said Kitchin, one of the few
radio execs who would publicly comment on Cashbox.
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- "I'm for any form of non-traditional sponsorship
revenue."
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- Though talk show hosts nervous about their ratings will
likely argue for commercial limits when they negotiate their next contracts,
they're getting no support from at least one giant network today.
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- Kitchin's Premiere Network is owned by the 830-station
megagroup Clear Channel, which has started using Cashbox at some of its
stations to accelerate its own network's programs.
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- "We began testing the unit a few weeks ago, specifically
inside Laura and Rush," says WABC program director Phil Boyce. "We
got the idea from a few [Clear Channel] stations that were using it.
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- "We have only tested the unit adding a one minute
spot to the hour," Boyce said. "I have no idea how it would sound
adding [five], but we'll never find out -- that would be too much."
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- As owner Disney scrambles for bucks to get its sagging
stock back up, WABC is already running up to 20 minutes of commercials
and promos each hour, the most of any New York station -- but not by far.
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- "With the amount of [commercial] inventory in radio
now, why would you want to do more?" asks Rich Wood, who syndicates
Bob Grant, Dr. Joy Browne and others for WOR (710 AM), which doesn't plan
to use Cashbox.
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- "It's ratings suicide. You're getting so much clutter,"
adds Wood. "There's an overall feeling in the industry that audience
dropoffs in some formats may be because of commercial loads."
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- Cashbox maker Prime Image Inc. is also rolling out a
"Time Machine" for live television which is technically more
modest with its time grab -- about a 90 seconds per hour for extra commercials.
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- If the device finds widespread acceptance in TV -- as
it no doubt will in radio -- the TV networks will be able to shoehorn more
top-dollar commercials into popular live broadcasts like the Academy Awards
by shortening the speeches of presenters and accepters.
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- Hey, maybe that's not a bad idea.
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