• Get involved.
    We want your input!
    Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.

    After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
    If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.

    After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
    https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/

    Thanks in advance and have fun!
    RadioDiscussions Administrators

Radio Industry/Advertising Kickbacks

H

hooligan

Lately, I have noticed more and more on Jay Severin's show that he describes first-hand experiences with the advertisers of the show. Mostly for home goods or services. Offhand, I recall him touting the superbness of...

- A company that installed media solutions throughout his home.

- A rug company which has furnished Jay's home with spectacular handmade rugs (pretty ironic spot too for Jay given how he is espousing the great quality of rugs from regions that Jay has made a living of slamming the entire cultures of).

- A fine woodworking company doing work in his home

- And more that I can't think about right now.

I notice that he constantly points out that all of this is for his home which is located in Massachusetts. After reading some of the posts here, I have to wonder how much of this repetition is to keep reminding folks that he lives here now.

But more to the point, I have always wondered if radio personalities that have sponsors like these, actually pay for the services they are endorsing.

Mind you, I don't really mean to pick on Jay specifically here. Afterall, wasn't it Howie Carr who coined the term: "Graftmobile"? Although, I do not know what the details were behind that car.

I am not in the radio industry. I just listen when I can, mostly to talk radio. I was just curious and I thought this might be something worth asking of the folks who might really know.

Are kickbacks to hosts for positive feedback on goods/services generally accepted by the owners of radio stations that air them? Is it just a common side perk? Or is there usually an agreement in place between the station owner and the host and the advertiser(s). Or does everyone really just pay the full price of the goods and services that they push on the radio?
 
AFAIK... All radio personalities/stations do this... What happens is comapny X pays radio Station WXXX so many dollars to run thier add. Then they offer a free product(s) to the radio personalities to record the commercial or to do the live read.
 
Howie Carr is the KING of that! also known as "graft" on his show, his car, his LASIK surgery, hardwood floors, carpet cleaning, tuesday Kowloon food delivery... you name it Howie gets it for free... Dish Network TV....
 
ZRXOA 5248 said:
Howie Carr is the KING of that! also known as "graft" on his show, his car, his LASIK surgery, hardwood floors, carpet cleaning, tuesday Kowloon food delivery... you name it Howie gets it for free... Dish Network TV....
Click to expand...

Advertising kickbacks makes it sound like something illegal is going on.
Not so, it's called advertising endorsements. This has been on going since the days of Arthur Godfrey.
Celebrities, professional sports and yes, even popular radio people do them.

The radio station gets a fat contract and hires the popular talent to endorse their product.
Most of the deals involve the use of the product, car, flooring, whatever and cash money to the talent.

Tiger Woods makes more money on endorsements than on the greens.
 
Yes, but golf does not have a federal law that requires its advertising sponsors to be clearly identified.

Case in point, WODS this morning sometime around 6 ish, June Knight and Uncle Dale go into this spontaneous conversation that leads to the magic words " Purina 1". Howie has been pushing the same product, and even discussed how he had to call someone in another market for training on how to deliver the copy.

June might be getting a talent fee for the ad, she might be getting cases of the product delivered daily, but it sure looks like an end run around the "advertisers must be clearly identified" rule.

When someone mentions Howies new and improved 20-15 vision, the Dr who did the surgery GRATIS as part of his buy gets a prominent mention.
 
Been around for years. Sean Hannity--boy I had a great dinner at Ruth's Chris the other day! Only I got it
"on the arm" (free) while you have to shell out mucho dinero. Howie had a graftmobile himself and temp.
had to return it when his status was in limbo! But he's in the Dreaded Private Sector unlike pols.

A couple years ago Hannity had Opie and Anthony on--WTKK refused to run the hour, as it was basically
an ad for competition, XM. Think Hannity got some kickbacks/$$ from XM for having them on..? I don't
know if Howie gets kickbacks from XM but he has mentioned before listening to classic country on
Willie's Place (formerly Hank's...) and just the other day he talked about listening to some Congressional
hearings on the radio, "on the special radio I'm not allowed to mention". You'll recall Howie's prod. had to
bleep out the mention of Sirius and XM merging. Anyway, maybe XM is giving a kick back to Howie?
 
Speakin' of Purina 1, wonder if "Blackjack" is still comin' down fo' breakfast?.....Seeya ;D
 
Can't help but detect celebrity envy.

Sorry to say your not driving the most expensive car on our lot!
This is simply a clever way to cut through the clutter.

Obviously it's working , you can recall by name all of the so called "kickbacks" the talent is getting.

Nothing illegal, nothing new....it's radio's version of product placement.
Highly effective and good for the radio stations and their talent.
 
I remember at least XM i am not sure about siruis but I know XM buying adds on major Boston radio stations. I always thought that was kind of short sighted of the station to run those adds, but I think not mentioning the services at all when they are newsworthy is short sighted too. Shame on 'TKK for that kind of blatant cencorship.
 
ZRXOA 5248 said:
Yes, but golf does not have a federal law that requires its advertising sponsors to be clearly identified.

Case in point, WODS this morning sometime around 6 ish, June Knight and Uncle Dale go into this spontaneous conversation that leads to the magic words " Purina 1". Howie has been pushing the same product, and even discussed how he had to call someone in another market for training on how to deliver the copy.
Click to expand...

As long as it's identified on the log as "Commercial Matter", it's perfectly legal.

No one is trying to "get away" with anything.

It's called a Paid Endorsement. They give the product to the jock/announcer so he can talk about it.
 
So are, also, many of the prizes given away to listeners/viewers.
Stations are not buying this stuff at retail! As long as you
identify a company by name, absolutely legal and ethical, as well.

Same with awards shows for Hollywood types. Designers will loan
clothes, jewels, etc. to celebrities, in order to drum up publicity.
"Who are you wearing?"
 
I like Rush Limbaugh, but I think his spots for the Linnai tankless hot water system are lame. He'll weave a political monologue into a territory where he can use the term, 'hot water...' and off he goes. Pretty blatant, pretty awkward. He did the same once with GM vehicles, although I think that advertising contract ended. He hasn't mentioned a GM vehicle in months.
 
ChrisNH said:
I like Rush Limbaugh, but I think his spots for the Linnai tankless hot water system are lame. He'll weave a political monologue into a territory where he can use the term, 'hot water...' and off he goes. Pretty blatant, pretty awkward. He did the same once with GM vehicles, although I think that advertising contract ended. He hasn't mentioned a GM vehicle in months.
Click to expand...

Linnai tankless hot water systems and GM vehicles. Despite the advertising clutter, you remembered both products.
There you go, celebrity endorsements work. :)
 
Keith I disagree, it is not the fact it is logged as a commercial, the listener has to know it is a commercial, and the sponsor needs to be clearly identified to the listener.

That is the way I was taught and that's the way I see it listed in the FCC Daily Digests under the actions section.
 
So, how do the taxes work for this kind of thing? Does the jock have to list the value of the eye surgery, for example or the hair plugs etc (Mike Adams) on their taxes? Perhaps there is a 1099? Perhaps it is written in the ice? How does Howie list the value of his car(r)?
 
ZRXOA 5248 said:
Keith I disagree, it is not the fact it is logged as a commercial, the listener has to know it is a commercial, and the sponsor needs to be clearly identified to the listener.
Click to expand...

Did you honestly not know that these were sponsors? I have a hard time believing that anyone would not know these are sponsors.

They are in the middle of stop-set, they have bumper music before and after the stop set, etc., etc. I think in these cases if it's on the log, it's covered.

However, if these endorsements were sprinkled throughout the show, and the host was getting something that was not disclosed (on the log)...then there's an issue.


djflash said:
So, how do the taxes work for this kind of thing? Does the jock have to list the value of the eye surgery, for example or the hair plugs etc (Mike Adams) on their taxes?
Click to expand...

You are supposed to claim the value of such as income.

You are even supposed to claim the dollar value of airline miles. If your company covers your plane fare and you collect the airline miles for yourself (like everyone does), then the value of the miles received is supposed to be claimed as income.

Of course no one does the latter.
 
Status
This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic.


Back
Top Bottom