Public Radio is the Real Genius

So WMKK has announced that they're going to refuse to air any commercials between 9am and 12noon. They're treating it as something quite revolutionary. Forgive my giant yawn; that daypart probably doesn't bill well to begin with...I would not be surprised if the only commercials that aired then were part of a bundle deal for more lucrative dayparts.

Now if they said they were going commercial free doing morning drive? That's revolutionary! Suicidal, probably, but revolutionary nonetheless.

But the press release is what gets me:

"Three hours of uninterrupted, astounding musical variety; completely commercial free to start every work day is... sheer genius. An idea that revolutionary could only have come from The Mighty Mike FM," (emphasis added) commented Director of FM Programming Ron Valeri. "Finally, a station that is actually doing something about too many commercials on the radio." (10-17-07)
from Radio Online

Gee, so having no commercials is "sheer genius"? So I guess that means that public radio has been geniuses for over three decades! I know Ron's just trying to drum up some excitement for the idea, which he hopes will mean more listeners for his station. But that's showing some serious chutzpah when WMKK's 12+ ratings are about a quarter of what the local NPR powerhouse, WBUR, gets.

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Bonus points to anyone who was in their teens or 20's in 1985 and thought that Jordan Cochran (Michelle Meyrink) was the hottest girl in the world. She was a "geek goddess" nearly a decade before it was cool. :-)