What load shedding has meant for radio

Load shedding aka power cuts has played havoc with traffic, turning what would ordinarily be a five-minute excursion into a tedious one-hour journey endured without the help of narcotics or other relaxants.

This unavoidable situation has drastically increased the amount of time commuters spend in their vehicles and in the company of their favourite radio brands, effectively adding several hours to the standard ‘Drive Time'.

Psssst! Now I'll let you into a secret.

When it comes to advertising on radio, Drive Time, is also prime time; however Drive Time rates only apply from 6am to 9am on most popular radio stations. With our current state of traffic affairs, radio stations have a captive drive audience until at least 10.30am and advertisers have the opportunity to take advantage of this consumer at a much lower rate for that extra hour and a half. The same obviously also applies for the afternoon drive show.

So, your traditional commute-based radio audience, which tends to be far more attentive, are trapped in their cars for longer than ever and are literally “forced” to listen to the radio. For largely historical reasons, advertisers remain in a time warp, deserting radio for television and are haggling for TV space and larger advertising budgets to spend on print and outdoor?!

Newspapers read by candlelight, making for some serious eye-strain according to my optometrist and I hardly see Eskom footing the bill for that one, let alone the obvious fire hazard reading by candlelight poses.

While the black screen on our TVs might be a soothing accompaniment to a meditative yoga session, it certainly is not good for much else.

Billboards are still doing okay... as long as they're lit by the range of your headlamps and those with backlit hoardings are not being picketed by electricity deprived citizens.

So in conclusion, my insider tip is this: those with foresight better make a few quick radio buys, NOW, before your competitors realise that the cat is out the bag and all that sought-after radio inventory is sold.

Long live, Load Shedding, Long Live! (Tongue in cheek!)