Back in April, the CC Radio’s KZPS-FM Dallas ventured into largely uncharted territory when it adopted a country-rock music format, all without traditional commercials-"Lone Star."
But The Dallas Business Journal reports that today, the music remains, but pre-recorded ads are creeping back in: "In the last couple of weeks, KZPS (92.3 FM) has run 30-second spots for Verizon Wireless and DirecTV. Commercials for Whataburger are on the way. J.D. Freeman, who oversees the station for corporate parent Clear Channel Communications, won’t rule out the possibility of KZPS — known as "Lone Star" — eventually reverting to traditional commercials."
RBR/TVBR observation: Most likely, advertisers just weren’t willing to pay such a high premium for being "Lone" sponsors on "Lone Star." Also, it can be a tough sell for network and national spot advertisers who are used to a spots and dots campaign. It’s tough to make big exceptions for one station on a campaign that is sold and created differently. Now, if CC Radio created an unwired network of these types of stations in each market, it might be different. Best bet-try with HD multicast formats first-stations are now allowed sponsorship on their HD-2 channels, per the HD Digital Radio Alliance.
