Radio Bill Prompts Advertising Battle
House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Communications Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher, D-Va., want the FCC to consider probing allegations of retaliation by AM and FM stations over pending bills that would require over-the-air radio to pay performers for songs they broadcast, CongressDaily reported Wednesday. While the lawmakers did not take a position on the merits of the June complaint by the MusicFirst Coalition, they said in a letter that the agency should conduct a "thorough examination" of the merits of the claims.
MusicFirst's petition argued that stations have refused their ads but run ads by the National Association of Broadcasters, which opposes the legislation. Most recently, MusicFirst's media buyer was rejected by Clear Channel stations in Houston and Detroit. On Thursday, MusicFirst released the 30-second ad featuring Duke Fakir of the Four Tops, which stations would not run. The bill that is the focus of the ad war passed the House Judiciary Committee in May and will be the subject of a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Tuesday. Read a preview story about the hearing in CongressDaily here (subscription required).
While calls to Clear Channel were not immediately returned an NAB official said broadcasters are under no obligation to accept any and all advertising. WPGC in Washington, D.C., for example, is not obliged to take ads from WKYS claiming that WKYS is the best hip-hop music station in town. The seminal 1973 Supreme Court decision in Columbia Broadcasting System v. Democratic National Committee outlines that broadcasters have the right to reject advertising.
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