If there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that the FCC has very, very stringent rules about the nature and content of broadcasts. Some of their rules are obvious - no profanity - but some of them are very strict, like the “equal time” rules around elections, where a talk show host must literally devote equal time to making jokes about running candidates, etc.
But I’m baffled by this new strain of radio advertising, which I’m sure many out there have heard. It seems to be predominant on Clearchannel stations, but it’s all over any given commercial station out there.
The basic format of the ad is that, mid-commercial break, the listener is tricked into thinking that the commercials are over and we’ve returned to on-air DJ banter - I think they even begin by saying something like, “And we’re back!” We then overhear faux “Morning Zoo”-style banter, in which several on-air personalities have a “candid” conversation about what TV shows theyr’e excited about this week. The whole thing is obviously an advertisment for whatever network the shows are all on, but the entire thing is intentionally contrived to trick the listener into thinking that they’re not hearing an ad at all, but are hearing the radio station’s DJ’s casually bantering.
I did some time in college radio a few years ago, and with my knowledge of the FCC’s craziness when it comes to stuff like this, it seems like this has to be breaking some sort of rule. Does anyone know if it is? I’m really shocked that there hasn’t been a crackdown on these types of ads, especially in light of the whole recent VNR Scandal.
What part of the VNR scandal turned out to be illegal? Immoral and unethical, yes, but that’s a huge legal distinction.
Putting ads into the programming was common in the early days of radio and television, when the entire program was sponsored by a single brand. That went away more because magazine-style short commercial spots took over than because it was outlawed.
I wouldn’t listen to a Clearchannel Morning Zoo station without a gun pointed to my head, so I’ve never heard any of these spots. But I can’t figure out how they would violate any FCC rules.
In this era, the FCC’s rules and the enforcement of them has changed. The equal time rules have been pretty much thrown out. The increased emphasis on indecency enforcement is another change. The rules about widespread ownership of stations have been generously loosened.
If you have looked into the VNR controversy, you probably know it is still going on, and the FCC is not taking any action. As for the fake Morning Zoo ads, they probably aren’t illegal or even unethical. Having radio and TV personalities do ads is a very old practice. In B.B. King’s first radio gig, he played his own songs and also sang about the sponsor’s laxative product.
I’d really like to say more about the current FCC, but this is General Questions.
Something you may not have ascertained from the OP is that these aren’t actual on-air personalities from the station, merely actors trying to sound like typical radio personalities.
The government produces an insignificant fraction of VNRs, and that opinion - not a ruling and not law - has no applicability to private sources doing so.
It goes back even further than B.B. King’s first radio gig: on his live radio show, George Gershwin read ads for Feenamint laxative. (I’m seeing a pattern here, about what commercial radio turns great music into).
Can’t answer the OP, but here in Florida I keep hearing ads for “Botox Injections for Extreme Underarm Sweating”, “Incontinental Bowl Syndrome” (or, well, turn that into an acronym at your own peril), and other radio spots that make me feel like I’ve been whooshed.
(These ads run on WIOD, AM 610, and it’s tunable in the Miami/Boca/West Palm area, although at night there’s this Spanish station that’s audible in the background.)
It is true that GAO’s opinion does not concern non-governmental VNRs. But you asked about the “VNR scandal,” and the only such scandal I am aware of was quite specifically about the government’s production and distribution of VNRs, and led directly to the production of the cited opintion from the GAO. Am I confusing my scandals? Are you aware of a scandal concerning the private production of VNRs that I am not?
If you check the Wikipedia article cited by the OP, you’ll see that this practice began in the 1980s. In my experience, the use of VNRs has been exposed to a great hue and cry just about every year since. I don’t even believe that the 2004 kerfluffle was the first one involving the government. I tend to pay attention to this stuff more than most, admittedly, but this has been an ongoing scandal for decades. The only thing that changed was that one day I woke up and found that everybody was screaming about something I was hoarse over. And yet nothing has really changed, and PR firms are out there today doing exactly the same thing. It was on the Daily Show just this week. It’s not just a scandal when the government does it. Whenever any private firm makes a propaganda piece and gives it to local stations to be aired, unidentified, as “news” it is a scandal. It is a desecration of news and a detriment to public understanding of issues.
Excuse me – maybe I’m facile, but what’s the scandal, even in the article? VNR’s are no different than written PR’s insofar as I’ve been able to gleen. Isn’t there a such thing as editorial responsibility any more? If you get all your news from an organization that doesn’t edit or screen or source verification or data checking, then maybe you deserve to be mislead…? I’m not trying to be non-GQ-ish, here, and I don’t read the scandal sheets, so what’s the deal here?
You know, I haven’t listened to the radio much since I got an MP3 player in the car, but they still do the “Morning Zoo” thing on a couple of the stations here, which pisses me off no end… I’d really prefer they simply shut the hell up and played music, with no talking (and ideally no ads!)- but that’s not going to happen.
I do get a bit annoyed at the ads that use the hosts of a particular radio show, though.
I could understand it if they just had the hosts say “And remember, the Two Guys With A Microphone And Too Much Sugar In Their Coffee Show is bought to you by Crelm Toothpaste- with the miracle ingredient Fraudulein! And here’s Marty with news and weather…”
Instead, they’ll have some trivial banter and a crap ad along the lines of:
“Gee, you’re looking awfully happy today!”
“(Lame joke response)… Of course, when I’m this happy, I like to make sure my smile is as good as (something local that’s really good)- and to do that, I use Crelm Toothpaste!”
“Crelm Toothpaste… that’s the one with Fraudulein in it, right?”
“That’s the one… because nothing gets my teeth white like the Fraudulein in Crelm Toothpaste!”
“Maybe I should get some!”
“Well, it would certainly improve your breath”
(Laughter)
“And here’s Marty with the Wallaby Tim’s Discount Retail Emporium News Report…”