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Ok commercials on non-coms?

J

johnbasalla

I do an historical old music/record show. I have a one-minute Chevrolet commercial on a disc from the late 1930s/early '40s to air in which they advertise a new car for as low as $445, and talk about the the value of their cars. I would like to play it for the historical interest. Can it be aired legally?

What about commercials from the 1950s for still existing products? The goal is to aurally "paint a picture" of the time.
No money is involved.
 
This issue comes up a lot in news, where a commercial becomes part of the story. The key part is the call to action. "Buy one today." I'd suggest not to play the entire commercial, but just the selected parts that make your point. I'd also play a few seconds, fade it down and do a voice-over, then fade it back up at a point you want to make. The fact that no money is exchanged is also important.
 
Running a old ad for a Chevy in an old radio show should not be a problem. Most logical people would quickly understand that you can't buy a new car for $400.

Oh, wait, we are talking about the FCC...

As a practical matter, there shouldn't be any problem airing commercial material from the same era as the historic broadcast, especially if it was part of the original show (e.g., a transcription of a 30's or 40's era show) or where the commercial is intended to set the mood or is part of the plot development of a current production set in that era.

Think, for example, of "Mad Men," the TV show about a Madison Avenue ad agency in the 50's. (It's either Showtime or HBO, but obviously the show could legitimately be aired on your local PBS station). It would be entirely consistent with the premise of the show to have a full sing late 50's era Chevrolet "See The USA in Your Chevrolet" spot be run, say,off a film projector in the boardroom of this fictional agency as, for example, part of some plot to take away the GM business from a rival agency. While Chevrolet is still a current brand, and most people remember the jingle (which has been revived recently) the context is not as a commercial "call to action" message on behalf of GM, but instead as part of the plot development & to tie that plot to a readily identifiable icon of the time and place the dramatic action is taking place.

The one exception might be for tobacco products, which is a touchier issue. There it might be wiser just to briefly air part of a jingle, or edit out the actual spot. ("This is Jack Benny, and we'll be right back after this word from Phillip Morris --"Call for Phillip Morris" [edit] "Now Jack, about the party tonight.."
 
The commercials would have run inbetween songs from the era... part of an "era package". Fading it down, making announcements about it, and the like, defeats the purpose a bit.

See how "Big mama Government" can come in and take away freedoms to do as one pleases? More Government often leads to loss of freedom. Sorry for the rant.
 
johnbasalla said:
See how "Big mama Government" can come in and take away freedoms to do as one pleases? More Government often leads to loss of freedom. Sorry for the rant.
Click to expand...

It's been my experience that there's always something like that. If not government, it's the big corporate owner. If not that, it's the boss. If not that, it's the client. If not that, it's the listener complaining on some message board. There is no real freedom when you provide something for someone else.
 
I suspect there are a lot of strange things being aired from time to time on not-for-profit stations.

If I were the station manager and advising you as a programmer, I would say:
"Do what you described. Play the vintage music, play the vintage commercial, play the next vintage music. Then somewhere in the program comment narrate something that talks about the commercials of yesteryear being as dated as the music of the era." Unless the station is doing other things that legitimately attract the attention of the FCC, there will be no action on something like this.
 
johnbasalla said:
The commercials would have run inbetween songs from the era... part of an "era package". Fading it down, making announcements about it, and the like, defeats the purpose a bit.

See how "Big mama Government" can come in and take away freedoms to do as one pleases? More Government often leads to loss of freedom. Sorry for the rant.
Click to expand...

If it weren't for "big mama government" reserving certain frequencies and station categories (ie, LPFM) for non-commercial use, the value of those stations would be bid up to the point where a non-profit company running this sort of nostalgia wouldn't have access to the frequency to begin with. Instead, it would be just another commercial station offering the "best mix" (or whatever) along with seven minute stop sets.

Too often, people are more than willing to take the benefits of "big government" (ie, a reserved, non-commercial frequency that keeps it from being tied up by the big commercial broadcast group), but then whine about the strings attached to the benefit. The problem is that you can't have it both ways...
 
I'm hardly an expert on non-comms, but a call to action would imply that action can be taken. Since you can't get a new Chevy for $445, I don't think 70 year old car commercials would be a problem.
 
Underwriting rules for non-com educational stations apply only for stations receiving consideration to the radio station from a sponsor. Consideration can be money, barter-trade, or even an expectation worked out between the sponsor and the station of a favorable report or review on the business. If there is no consideration given to the radio station in any shape or form, it is NOT Underwriting.

Thus, in this case, the sponsor is apparently not giving any consideration to the station, therefore it falls into a NEWS/PROGRAM FEATURE catagory. For example, you can rave, endorse, tell people to go down to movie theater (movie review), or otherwise provide a call to action and express qualitative judgements all you want and not violate FCC rules if it is part of a program, news or news feature.

You can also tell your listeners to go down to the radio stations' Listener Appreciation Party or Dance and talk it up all you want assuming your non-com is a non-profit entity, which they all typically. Proceeds or profits must go towards the station.

Also, if the sponsor is a 501c3, non-profit corporation, school district, University, or governmental entity there are no Underwriting rules to follow.

The Commission has determined that a lengthy underwriting spot is contrary to their rules, so most non-coms limit the spot time to 20 or 30 seconds. A non-underwriting spot can typically be 60 seconds long, with full call to action, qualitative verbiage, flowery adjectives, inducements, and other such normal Commercial-sounding script. However, to keep things in conformity with the for-profit spots, a station may want to standardize their rules to protect their air sound and keep it consistant, regardless of type of client.
 
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