....Mr. Hogan of Clear Channel Radio, which is a unit of Clear Channel Communications, said the company's new ceilings on ads, while national in scope, would vary according to format and time of day.

For example, during the morning drive, Clear Channel's country-music stations will broadcast no more than 12 minutes of commercials an hour, take no more than 4 minutes for any single commercial break and pack no more than six commercials into a break.

Such stations have been playing 18 minutes to 24 minutes of ads during the morning drive, Mr. Hogan said. "This is a way for us to go to advertisers and say we've heard you. We're going to give you a better environment," he added. Enforcement efforts will rely on proprietary technology that will monitor what Clear Channel stations broadcast, he said.

Joseph W. Lenski, executive vice president at Edison Media Research, said the new Clear Channel limits might create pressure for others to do something similar.

....Guy Zapoleon, president at Zapoleon Media Strategies, called the Clear Channel move well-timed given threats like satellite radio and proliferating sources of music and information. [NY Times] Buh-flipping-doy, Mr. Zapoleon, who is a descendent of both Napoleon and Frank Zappa.

But seriously, they have found the pont at which both listeners and advertisers feel taken advantage of: somewhere around the 12 minute per hour mark, which is still 20% of air time.

Satellite radio is providing much needed competition for commercial radio as well.