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Discriminatory practices in radio ad buys
AdWeek recently described a practice that has been common in radio advertising and which the FCC is only now trying to curb. Advertisers often make radio ad buys with a “no urban” or “no Hispanic” clause attached. As a result, minority stations don’t earn as much revenue per listener as general market stations. While the FCC doesn’t have any power over advertisers, it does have authority over stations, so it is now requiring stations to include a non-discrimination clause in their ad contracts; they also must certify during their ad renewal that advertisers didn’t place an ad buy that intentionally overlooked urban or Latino stations.
The article notes that it’s not clear what this new rule will do to truly stop the practice, or if the problem is as widespread as it once was. Nevertheless, the FCC should be applauded for taking some action to stop discriminatory practices that have lead to minority stations earning less. Let’s hope these sorts of exclusionary ad buys don’t continue.
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