Pete Buttigieg's interview on country radio was silenced

[AirPoh]

What a shame.

"This is an incredible act of cowardice for a company whose slogan is 'Where Every Voice Matters,'" said Kurt Bardella, the publisher of the daily country music email newsletter "The Morning Hangover." He was in the room for Garner's interview with Buttigieg.

In an op-ed for USA Today, Bardella wrote, "I hope the executives at Cumulus take the time to actually listen to the whole conversation, reconsider their directive, and give Blair the go-ahead to air his talk with Mayor Pete."

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/media/pete-buttigieg-interview-blair-garner/index.html

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

I think it is funny that they won't broadcast it because of fairness doctrine... yet how much of their programming is reckless partisan garbage?

 

[TV and credit cards]

https://soundcloud.com/user-755551091/blair-garner-mayor-pete

 

[RavenSky]

Maybe they were afraid they would be forced to have Trump on if they aired the Buttigieg segment

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ry-radio-interview-blocked-airing/1798474001/

 

[Ford]

Maybe they were afraid they would be forced to have Trump on if they aired the Buttigieg segment

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ry-radio-interview-blocked-airing/1798474001/

I can understand why they chose not to air it. The Equal Time Rule is usually pretty easy to follow. You give candidate A 5 minutes on your station, and you're legally obligated to provide candidate B 5 minutes if they request it.

However, this is a syndicated program, and as such it could theoretically fall upon the individual affiliates to comply. Most local stations (news talk excepted) tend to avoid possible Equal Time conflicts like the plague, because they can be a hassle for them to stay in compliance. Maintaining the station's Public File is often left to the HR person.

 

[AirPoh]

What a shame.

"This is an incredible act of cowardice for a company whose slogan is 'Where Every Voice Matters,'" said Kurt Bardella, the publisher of the daily country music email newsletter "The Morning Hangover." He was in the room for Garner's interview with Buttigieg.

In an op-ed for USA Today, Bardella wrote, "I hope the executives at Cumulus take the time to actually listen to the whole conversation, reconsider their directive, and give Blair the go-ahead to air his talk with Mayor Pete."

I forgot the link, sorry.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/22/media/pete-buttigieg-interview-blair-garner/index.html

 

[AirPoh]

Maybe they were afraid they would be forced to have Trump on if they aired the Buttigieg segment

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...ry-radio-interview-blocked-airing/1798474001/

I can understand why they chose not to air it. The Equal Time Rule is usually pretty easy to follow. You give candidate A 5 minutes on your station, and you're legally obligated to provide candidate B 5 minutes if they request it.

However, this is a syndicated program, and as such it could theoretically fall upon the individual affiliates to comply. Most local stations (news talk excepted) tend to avoid possible Equal Time conflicts like the plague, because they can be a hassle for them to stay in compliance. Maintaining the station's Public File is often left to the HR person.

From the article:

Cumulus' rationale "is flat wrong," media researcher and communications professor Dylan McLemore tweeted Monday. "The equal time rule is indeed 'widely understood' ... to NOT include 'bonafide news interviews,' even by entertainment hosts like Garner. Cumulus knows this. So what's the real reason?"