ATTENTION NEWS DIRECTORS
Earlene Lefler, NBA Executive Assistant has been calling all statewide television and radio general managers regarding the upcoming breakfast meeting with NAB President and CEO Senator Gordon Smith at the NBA office. Within the first 24 hours, we have received participation confirmation from 20 general managers.
Senator Smith has agreed to arrive at the NBA office thirty minutes before the start of the breakfast meeting in order to do interviews with our television and radio news stations. We encourage Las Vegas affiliates to coordinate together with their Reno counterparts, in order to spread Senator Smith's message throughout the state.
The meeting is scheduled for Friday, April 8, 2011, from 9 AM - 10:30 AM. The meeting will be held in the board room of the Nevada Broadcasters Association, 1050 East Flamingo Road, Suite 102 -- in Las Vegas.
Following the meeting, Senator Smith will record an OBSERVATIONS interview at the NBA studio, which will be aired statewide on 26 radio stations.
With both the future of television and radio in peril as a Spectrum Auction is looming in the distance and a defeated Performance Tax may result in "an attack of a thousand cuts" -- the NBA together with the Board of Directors continues to be vigilant and aggressive in protecting the voice of every Nevada broadcaster. On a scale of one to ten, the upcoming meeting with Gordon Smith is a ten. Each and every Nevada television and radio station should be represented at this meeting.
For northern and rural broadcasters who are unable to be in Las Vegas on April 8, the meeting will be carried on a statewide conference call. For further information including the dial-in number and pass code, contact Adam Sandler at the NBA office.
FCC Warns Broadcasters About Discriminatory Advertising Contracts from Radio Ink Magazine
The FCC is getting serious about not allowing "no urban/no Spanish dictates to occur in our industry. Radio stations must certify that advertising contracts include nondiscrimination clauses and do not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said, “It should be clear that the Commission will vigorously enforce its rules against discrimination in advertising sales contracts. As the Commission stated in its order adopting the rule, discrimination simply has no place in broadcasting.”
The FCC’s Enforcement Bureau released an enforcement advisory to alert radio and TV stations about the requirement to certify that their advertising sales contracts contain nondiscrimination clauses and do not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity. Commercial broadcasters must complete the certification in order to renew their broadcast licenses.
A revised form (303-S), used for broadcast license renewals requires the new certification. The new requirement is aimed at advertising contracts that contain “no urban/no Spanish” dictates, by which advertisers and their agencies intentionally by-pass urban and Latino stations, supposedly because the client has dictated that its ads not be placed with those outlets.
Commercial broadcasters must complete the certification in order to renew their broadcast licenses. If they cannot affirmatively certify that their advertising agreements do not discriminate on the basis of race or ethnicity, they must explain why this should not be an impediment to granting the station’s license renewal application. The broadcaster’s response and explanation will be considered by the Commission in determining whether to renew the license.
The Enforcement Advisory also designates a specific contact in the Enforcement Bureau to respond to inquiries from the public and licensees. On issuing the Advisory, Michele Ellison, Chief of the Enforcement Bureau said, “The advisory puts everyone on notice that the Commission has no tolerance for this type of insidious discrimination. Our leadership has asked us to bring renewed focus to these important broadcasting issues. We will work in close collaboration with the Media Bureau to give this new requirement meaning.”
