Depending on a station format, audience, etc., is what I presume what determines when breaks occur in a program hour. But is there any kind of a tradional way of determining when? I kept a log recently of one station and it seems all over the map. Top and bottom of the hour are only what seems consistent. One picture on the ALPB webite shows somebody's mix board with an analog clock graphic on when breaks occur. That's the kind of thing I'm referring to.
Me thinks that FCC rules may have started the custom to ID the station "on the hour" because the rules make the top of the hour the official time, plus or minus a few minutes, during which a station must identify itself.
For local stations the length of phonograph records may have played a part in setting break times... a platter was good for about 3-and-a-half minutes so if you played two of them in a row breaks would come out every 7-minutes.
Radio and TV networks used the "ID on the hour" rule as the key to starting network programs at the exact second as a next hour begins, for which reason network stations subscribed to Western Electric wall clocks with time pulses delivered over phone lines to keep exact time-synch between networks and affiliates.
Slicing and dicing we inherited 60-second and 30-second commercials, 5-second station breaks, length of an average "live" concert is 90-minutes, and sports games broken up in terms of "length of innings" "Half Times", newscasts 5-minutes...
Program directors have theories about "how many commercials a listener will tolerate" which is a fun game to experiment with.
Curious what other broadcasters will say.
I wrote a few in my day. In the 70's, it went like this:
From mid-day on, breaks are at :20, :37 and :50. Second song from the top of the hour was a cold segue. Music sweeps at LEAST to :18 past the hour and not past :22. The first 15 minutes of the hour is critical. This is where teases and promotion is done.
The :37 break is optional if there are less than three minutes of commercials. Four minutes is max in any one break, but the :50 can have five minutes if needed. No break should have less than three minutes. Breaks that are not necessary slow momentum.
Weather is given at the :20 break. Jingle out. All other breaks jingle out. Jingle MUST reflect the TEMPO of the song! Up Tempo to Up Tempo song, etc. We NEVER come out of a break with a BALLAD! Ever! We try and sweep 30 minutes at all times when possible.
Your quarter hours must sweep! Never break in a quarter hour! After :45 past the hour, all promotion and upcoming teases are for the next hour. Especially the first 15 minutes.
There. That pretty much was our basic clock. Music was done by colored dots. Red, yellow, green, blue and black.
Doug
Most stations I've been involved with have comm breaks at :15 :30 and :45. The exact timing would differ depending on the playlist. On average about 4 songs play between each break in this configuration, with about 5 songs at :00.
Other stations use different configurations, its largely up to personal preference and spot load.