I love Canada. It’s a beautiful country. Its cities are clean and relatively safe. Its people are mostly terrific.

I just returned from there after a week at Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission hearings in Calgary. The CRTC is considering adding stations to Calgary and a couple of small cities in Alberta.

Unlike the FCC (which licenses stations concerned mainly with minimizing interference while squeezing in as many as possible), the CRTC does “due diligence.” It concerns itself with applicants’ business plans, financial qualifications and even formats. It wants new stations to add diversity of voices and choices to their markets. And it wants new stations to be viable without threatening the viability of existing ones. No wonder Canada has far fewer stations per capita than the U.S.!

Calgary, a metro area of over a million, with the hottest economy in the country, has only eight commercial FMs! Certainly, it can support more. And any new license in Calgary will be worth many millions.

Companies compete for the prize, and that’s where the fun part comes in. Broadcasters (and would-be’s) make elaborate presentations to CRTC commissioners, to convince them that they have the right plan, make the right promises, and have the right format for the market.

Not surprising, research (or what claims to be research) plays a role in this discussion. And I learned some amazing “facts” in Calgary last week…things that stunned me even though I’ve been in this industry for 30+ years. For example…

Seventeen percent of Calgary listeners do not have a favorite station! (It’s actually more like 2%.)

Sixty percent of the listeners to a Hot A/C station could name it as their favorite!

A station that includes MOR performers like Perry Como will appeal to 45-64’s, and even 45-54’s!

An Easy Listening station that includes 35% instrumentals will appeal to 45-64’s, and even 45-54’s!

There is a big opportunity for a Folk Music station!

Now, one of the CRTC commissioners did have a problem with something I testified to…that a Triple A station would have significant appeal to listeners in their 20’s and 30’s. But Triple A is new to Canada. Once he checks out the demos of Triple A’s in the U.S., he’ll understand that it is true.

But even (especially?) after 30+ years in the business, there’s something I don’t understand…why would anyone even want to play Perry Como on FM???

Well, the hoopla and hype of the Super Bowl is over now, and as always, it was about the commercials as much as the game. USA Today again ran its Ad Meter poll to see which commercials viewers like best. Commercials were part of the water cooler talk on Monday morning. And web surfers checked out sites devoted to Super Bowl advertising.

TV advertising, that is. I didn’t read or hear anything about the ads on radio coverage of the big game. In fact, I never hear anything about radio ads at all (except when listeners say our clients play too many).

What ever happened to radio advertising? Where is the creativity? Where is the imagination? I’m certainly not hearing any. Today’s radio advertising is pretty much limited to hard sell pitches and trite jingles. If there is humor, it’s pretty much on this level:

WIFE: Honey, why did you buy this big bag of dog food???

HUSBAND: Because it was on sale.

WIFE: But we don’t have a dog.

Ha.

It doesn’t have to be this way. I am a true believer in the power of radio. Radio, it was once said, is the “theater of the mind.” The images it can conjure up are powerful, because the listener constructs those images in his or her head. That’s how listeners can imagine fat, ugly DJs as Brad or Angelina lookalikes (as long as those jocks stay away from public appearances)!

Years ago, the creators of radio ads (often account execs or the traffic person) understood the power of their medium. Creating cool ads was a way for them express their creativity and do a great job for clients. And it wasn’t just happening in big markets…

For example, when I worked in Wichita, I remember hanging out one afternoon, checking out the competition, when a sultry female voice came on:

That thing between your legs isn’t working too well, is it? Maybe that’s because you didn’t use it much over the winter…

It was for a motorcycle repair shop.

OK, maybe that’s not award winning copy, but I still recall it 30 years later. On the other hand, I could not tell you about even one radio ad I heard on the way to work this morning. (And, no, I wasn’t listening to Sirius.)

Over its history, radio has had true advertising geniuses. First among them was Stan Freeberg. Google him and check out his work. The Freeberg ad burned in my memory portrayed a ten-story-high hot fudge sundae being created in the middle of Lake Michigan. I could really visualize that sundae.

Who’s doing that kind of work today?

Sometimes, I fear becoming a curmudgeon, talking or writing about how much better things used to be. No, I’m not ready to move into Andy Rooney territory just yet. But radio advertising really was better — much better — years ago.

It doesn’t have to be this way! Radio advertising can (at least some of the time) add interest and entertainment value to your station. And, given the level of competition you face today, that would be a very good idea.