Going back to the earliest days of streaming, Radio has had an unresolved issue with AFTRA (American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) – the union that represents many of the people on radio – over the issue of royalty payments for voice work done for radio commercials when they are streamed on the internet. Radio (and the advertisers) wanted to pay nothing and AFTRA sees the future of radio on streaming and this as a “must win” issue. Both sides have refused to budge and that left the situation with streaming radio having either PSAs or filler covering the period when commercials are playing on the radio station. Syndicated programs are especially tricky, since that is where big national advertisers might want to advertise.
In addition to losing potential ad revenue for the radio stations, the technology to block out the AFTRA commercials is a bit umm… unreliable – which is why you often hear problems where the stream goes into a PSA right in the middle of the host talking.
AFTRA has now signed a deal to settle the royalty issue that was agreeable to radio. AFTRA will get paid, but less than they originally wanted. So expect to start hearing “real” commercials more on streaming radio, rather than the inane PSAs about Mercury poisoning being spread like the common cold. It’s up to you to decide if that’s an improvement.