I did an interesting little experiment. Do you ever do "little experiments"?
By The Horse
@TheHorse (239890)
Walnut Creek, California
August 1, 2026 11:47am CST
I like to do mini-experiments, like seeing how long a stop light is red at various intersections. It turns out (here) that even a really "bad" stop light is really only red for 1 1/2 minutes. Maybe two minutes at the worst.
Recently, I have grown impatient with my AM news radio station (KCBS). When I click over to the news station (in my truck) It seems there is always an advertisement playing. I then click back to my public FM classical music station. Ah...music.
I decided to try a "controlled" experiment. Every time I switched from AM to FM, or vice versa, I checked both stations to see whether they were presenting news/music or running an ad For public radio, an ad was defined as thanking their sponsors/donors or asking for a donation I guess you could call it a "paired" design.
I didn't write anything down, as I was driving while I collected data My conclusion was that AM radio is about 45 percent ads, while public radio is about 5 per cent ads.
Only then did I do a Google search to see if my results corresponded with data already out there. I turns out that AM stations shoot for about 30 per cent ads. So my estimate was a bit high. I didn't get a "number" for FM public radio
Do you listen to public radio?
11 people like this
6 responses
@kaylachan (86012)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Aug
It's amazing that anyone can get AM signals anymore.
1 person likes this

@kaylachan (86012)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Aug
@TheHorse You're lucky to get them? When I try to listen to anything on the AM side there's always this hum that's so annoying.
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (239890)
• Walnut Creek, California
1 Aug
@kaylachan I don't have a hum. Does that happen on all of your AM radios?
1 person likes this



@TheHorse (239890)
• Walnut Creek, California
3 Aug
@wolfgirl569 I sometimes listen to Country when I am on the road. Or in Montana.
1 person likes this

@RasmaSandra (99805)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
1 Aug
I have not listened to radio since my days int Latvia but in my younger days in NYC I hardly ever turned the radio off and always sweiitched between my favorite channels, From rock to country etc,
1 person likes this

@RasmaSandra (99805)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
2 Aug
@TheHorse the only thing I disliked was that Sunday evenings while I was still listening to my favorite oldies station they switched to playing doo wop and i was not a fan so I had to switch to another channel,
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (239890)
• Walnut Creek, California
3 Aug
@RasmaSandra Heh. When my classical station plays a certain composer, I change the station. .

@JESSY3236 (22543)
• United States
4 Aug
I used to listen to local radio stations. But one of my local ones always have "talk" radio before they have music. I didn't like that so I stopped listening to it. My mother has NPR on in her car and I sometimes like to listen to it. She also listens to a rock station in her car too. I mostly listen to a music app in the mornings. I have been listening to a rock station on it.
1 person likes this
@Ineeddentures (42547)
•
1 Aug
Public Radio?
I don't listen to any Radio these days
1 person likes this
@TheHorse (239890)
• Walnut Creek, California
11h
@Ineeddentures Yep.a random playlist. Listening as I write. Don't know what the piece is..









