A letter to the station manager of WGY, the Albany, NY; a Clear Channel station that won't run Robert Millman's Radio Ads.Dear Clear Channel, What's Your Position on Free Speech?
My name is Robert Millman, and I would like to place some issue ads on WGY in Albany New York. I tried to do that on December 28 when I contacted WGY advertising representative Pennie Gonzalez.
Pennie wrote back to me that my ads had been rejected by programming staff; I subsequently wrote to her on two occasions, asking for the reason for this refusal. Having received no response over the last three days, it seems logical that I contact you, the General Manager.
The issues raised in my ads concern the same social and governmental issue that are prominently discussed on your station. It seems to me that deficit spending is an issue that would interest your listeners. And, I believe that dissent, Christianity, oil dependence and the right to vote are also relevant issues given the content of your all-talk format.
As your station derives income from the use of public air waves, I believe it is reasonable for a citizen to ask why issue ads on current topics would be refused. This is not a theoretical question--I am trying to spend my money on your radio station.
So, for the third time, I am writing to ask, what is objectionable about my radio ads? Is it one ad or all seven? Is it specific language? Is it the sound effects, or any other specific aspects of the audio?
If you have specific objections to these audio spots, I want to know; then I can consider changing my ads to suit your station.
The scripts for all seven issue ads are pasted in below for your review.
Sincerely,
Robert Millman
1. TAX CUTS/DEFICIT SPOT
This is a paid radio moment--
The Federal deficit, is 400 billion dollars this year,
the total National Debt is 7 trillion dollars.
I keep hearing it's our money,
But it's gone and now it's our debt.
Not corporate debt, it’s citizen debt
Every man woman and child in this country
owes the government 25,000 dollars. (pause)
It would be fair to call this a “Birth Tax.”
2. INCUMBENCY/REDISTRICTING SPOT
This is a paid radio moment--
We're all nervous about losing our jobs--
even politicians.
But, they can cut a deal to keep their jobs safe.
When politicians re-draw voting districts, they choose where your vote goes--.
And they get elected again and again.
And before they retire, they choose where your vote goes next.
That's what re-districting is (pause)
A way to steal your vote
3. JUSTIFICATION FOR WAR SPOT
This is a paid radio moment--
The President assured us Saddam had weapons of mass destruction,
nuclear capability and ties to Al Qaeda,
Iraq could not be contained.
We declared victory, but we’re still there.
We’ve taken and re-taken the same cities.
13 hundred American troops are dead, many more wounded,
with no end in sight. (pause)
Half truths got us in. Can whole truths get us out?
the rest of the spots are presented in an earlier posting on this thread.
Clear Channel and FCC troubles
re; cruelty to animals The Federal Communications Commission issued a Notice of Apparent Liability (a precursor to a fine) of $755,000. against four stations owned by Clear Channel Communications on January 27, 2004 for complaints made over broadcasts.
Representing the maximum fine that they could impose -- $27,500 for each of the 26 airings -- FCC records indicate the programing was "designed to pander to, titillate and shock listeners." The company was also fined another $40,000 for record-keeping violations.
This is the single largest fine ever imposed by the FCC to any entertainment medium.Although violations took place in 2001, Bubba the Love Sponge Clem (Todd Clem) did not have his contract with Clear Channel or his nationally syndicated program canceled until February 24, 2004.
The good news is that no animal cruelty charges appear to be filed against him, since that date. The bad news:
In April of 2006, Bubba shaved a man's genitals and sprayed them with carburetor cleaner. Most carburetor cleaners contain xylene, methanol and various other chemicals which cause massive skin inflammation, even on the hands.here's current footage of this individual:
http://www.btls.com/video/BubbaMadAtCamera.wmvperhaps ClearChannel was right to air his program all across America: Funny isn't he?Weeks before Fox News TV and radio personality Tony Snow was tapped as the next White House spokesman, local listeners were wondering where his show went after being yanked off CLEAR CHANNEL: WMET-AM (1160). We heard from a few upset folks after Mr. Snow's final show aired on the free airwaves in Washington on March 24. The program continued to be broadcast locally on satellite radio. But Dennis Israel, WMET general manager, said he had received only one phone call and two e-mails about Mr. Snow's show since the station switched to a paid programming format last month.
"The Greaseman Show" in the morning was the only program that ClearChannel Radio's WMET did not replace, he added.
Although Mr. Snow, whose resume includes stints as deputy director of media affairs under President George Bush and editorial page editor at The Washington Times, will be at the center of daily press briefings at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., we hear that Fox Radio executives did have preliminary conversations about finding the show a new home on Clear Channel Radio's WTNT-AM (570).
http://washingtontimes.com/business/20060426-121116-5356r.htm More about THE GREASEMAN:
The Greaseman (Doug Tracht) was born in Bronx, New York, on August 1st, 1950. He attended DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx, and went to Ithaca College in New York from 1968-1972, majoring in Broadcasting. He worked at the college radio station and several other local stations where he developed the on-air character known as The Greaseman (AKA Grease.)
Radio shock jock Greaseman (Tracht) was fired for a shocking racist remark made on station WARW-FM in Washington, D.C.Tracht, then 48, made the racist remark during his show. Noting that the Grammy ceremony was scheduled for that evening, he played a portion of a song by Lauryn Hill, who later won five Grammy Awards.
Then Greaseman went on to comment, "No wonder people drag them behind trucks." The reference was to the murder of James Byrd Jr., a Black man decapitated when he was dragged behind a pick-up truck in Jasper, TX.Following the program, Sarah Taylor, the station's general manager, suspended Tracht without pay with the support of the station's owner, CBS Radio in New York. Later that afternoon the radio station fired him and issued an apology to listeners.
At WWDC, Tracht was suspended for another racist joke made on the air, and some years later fired for a joke which refers to the death of Martin Luther King Jr. The joke -- made on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1986 -- consists of Tracht saying "Why don't we plug four more and get the whole week off?" He issued a public apology on TV station WRC-TV and the executives at WWDC forgave him. WWDC is another ClearChannel broadcasting facility.Without digging up more documented information on "Greasman," Doug Tracht, I'll add that his name was being tossed around the FL Panhandle in connection to racist comments made by him at a station in either Orlando or Jacksonville. My media beginning was in a small cable television affiliate. After that, working extensively in radio offered me the advantage of meeting a diverse and talented group of individuals. From DJs to PDs people in radio brought a diversity of personal opinions and humor to the airwaves that rarely required shock techniques to gain ratings.
Not long after my divorce, I returned to the Emerald Coast or Red-neck Riviera, as some call it to try finding the happiness youth and that first media job brought to me. it was only a dippy 5,000 WATT-FM, lacking even a format but it was still everything that Radio should be; diverse and free of common influences affecting modern media. Ole' Dutch, a graduate of the Columbia School of Broadcasting had driven the truck as head roady for every major rock-group you can name. Then, there was Damian, the sales manager, as far to the right and yuppie as any neocon could go but his opinions counted too, on the air.
One day an old friend who was PD at the first 100,000 Watt FM rocker I worked for gave me a call about making a great deal of money at some new facilities in Mobile. The first two interviews went well. John was right: the money they offered was unbelievable. Even better, I'd have not only market exclusivity but also the sole right to represent numerous stations at my end of the beach: a gold-mine of media sales!
On that third interview top executives courted me with a nice lunch and a tour of their state-of-the-art facilities. There it was: over 20 radio stations co-located in a single building. Only it seemed odd. All these stations and no DJs? I asked. The big-guy explained, "oh. they all sound very live from the listener's perspective." "Oh," I responded, as I watched a few engineers scurrying about. All the while, I thought of those wonderful, zany, opinionated DJs i'd met over the years. Many soon to be out of work.
Sure they could go into sales but those opinions have no place on the airwaves of ClearChannel in many markets. Good on-air-talent can read exactly the same piece of copy with slightly different voice inflections and cause a wide diversity of listener responses. it's a bit like some slight-of-hand trick.
After ClearChannel made their offer, I said, "thanks but no thanks." I felt like vomiting that day. ClearChannel finally even bought that low-power dog. After the radio monopoly acquired the little mom and pop at my little end of the beach, I left media for good.
Yep, even us old "liberal media" types did our brand of slight-of-hand in bygone-days but we rarely practiced black-magic.
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