Forget primetime: radio owns mind time
In Radio World, Spotset Media Network founder Howard Robertson argues that radio wins the hours when listeners are sharpest, and that it builds relationships, not just impressions.
Howard Robertson · October 20, 2026 · 2 min read
This op-ed by Howard Robertson, CEO and founder of Spotset Media Network, first appeared in Radio World in August 2026. Here is a short summary. Read the full piece at the link below.
Howard Robertson has spent more than 53 years in advertising and media. He sold television profitably, and he knows what TV does well. But he makes the case that radio does something no other medium quite matches.
Primetime vs. mind time
Network TV's primetime is a three-hour block at night, prime mostly for the networks selling it. By then, Robertson writes, many viewers are tired, full from dinner or worn down by the news. Most radio listening happens on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., on the commute, at work and through the day. Those are the hours when people tend to think most clearly. He calls it mind time.
“Television’s primetime describes the value of an inventory block. Radio’s primetime describes the listener’s state of mind.”
Relationships, not impressions
Trusted radio personalities move people to call, visit, donate, vote and buy while the message is still on the air. And for Robertson it's personal: the Memphis stations his family heard during the Civil Rights movement are still on the air, still carrying the news and the music to new generations.
His message to media buyers is simple: if you're not putting local radio in front of your clients, you're doing them a disservice.
