• Philadelphia Inquirer, Monday, October 9, 2006 12:30 PM

When David Marks, the new Famous Dave's restaurant franchise owner in Philadelphia, got six radio commercials from his corporate office, he had to pick one. Marks, who uses both gut feeling and statistics, decided to try Spot Q, a new service for advertisers at B101. Fans of the soft-rock station's Web site listen to commercials and rate them. B101's owner, Jerry Lee, started Spot Q last year to help his advertisers and make the station sound better.

Says Blaise Howard, vice president and general manager, bad ads "make people go away just as a bad song makes people go away." Clear Channel Communications Inc. is also attacking the problem. If it does not offer listener tests, it has tried to improve the content and structure of ads along with a "Less-is-More" campaign to reduce their number and length. "People are as turned off by lousy commercials as they are with too many commercials," says Bob McCurdy, regional president, Clear Channel radio sales.

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