Yet another trend in broadcast advertising

The announcers are still using the exaggerated inflections and ‘voice roll’ cadences of a carnival barker, but now they are speaking in that stilted way very s-l-o-w-l-y. It’s a little reminiscent of ‘special English‘ broadcasts on Voice of America. In many cases it’s obvious that they are going for the senior market, as with the durable medical equipment firms whose business model is obviously built around Medicare (and just as obviously carries enough overhead to absolutely saturate the low-budget airwaves). It makes the commercial breaks seem ten times longer than they are, and one side effect has been that I have largely stopped listening to the radio.