Radio stations that don't advertise certain products for odd reasons

[anotherguyTN]

Some radio stations won't run advertising for certain products or businesses for religious or moral reasons. For example Christian stations that don't advertise beer, lotteries, etc. But other stations will advertise almost anything the FCC will allow as long as the ad time is paid for.

WASL 100.1/WTNV 97.3/WTRO 1450 in Dyersburg, TN falls into the latter category and runs ads for beer, lottries and casinos, and even an area adult bookstore. But you will never hear them run an ad for anything from Coca Cola. It's because the station is owned by the same company that is the local Pepsi and Dr. Pepper distributor. Apparently they won't sell ad time to their competitors in the soft drink business, where most other stations would love to have Coke's ad dollars.

Not counting the stations that don't run some ads for moral reasons, are there any other stations that won't sell advertising to some businesses or products that would normally be carrried by most stations for some reason like being considered the competition with the station owners in some other area, or because of some bias the station owners may have?

 

[mleach]

Some radio stations won't run advertising for certain products or businesses for religious or moral reasons. For example Christian stations that don't advertise beer, lotteries, etc. But other stations will advertise almost anything the FCC will allow as long as the ad time is paid for.

WASL 100.1/WTNV 97.3/WTRO 1450 in Dyersburg, TN falls into the latter category and runs ads for beer, lottries and casinos, and even an area adult bookstore. But you will never hear them run an ad for anything from Coca Cola. It's because the station is owned by the same company that is the local Pepsi and Dr. Pepper distributor. Apparently they won't sell ad time to their competitors in the soft drink business, where most other stations would love to have Coke's ad dollars.

Not counting the stations that don't run some ads for moral reasons, are there any other stations that won't sell advertising to some businesses or products that would normally be carrried by most stations for some reason like being considered the competition with the station owners in some other area, or because of some bias the station owners may have?

Chambersburg, PA's WIKZ "Mix 95.1" as of 2006 ( they may still have such a policy ) refused to run ads for adult bookstores, strip clubs and oddly television stations.

Woodstock-Harrisonburg, VA's WAZR-FM 93.7.....this gets interesting. Under orginial owner Art & Virginia Stamler ( at the time WAZR had a standards/big band format ) being a very religious couple and those who support traditional marriages, they refused to air ads that were produced by other radio stations IF the announcer who was featured on the commercial was unmarried, divorced and/or rumored to be gay. Virginia Stamler has since passed on but for many years Art Stamler denied this even though many of his former employees had said otherwise, that the couple for many years actually had a "list" of all the announcers in the Harrisonburg, VA region and those who had a "star" beisde their names, WAZR wouldn't allow the spots that featured their voices to be heard on WAZR.

Back in 1999, Stamler sold WAZR to Clear Channel who had switched the format from big bands/standards to CHR ( 93.7 KISS-FM ). As far as I know WAZR under Clear Channel doesn't have such a policy against the airing of spots whose voice was featured in them was someone who was not married.

 

[LKellerIII]

A historical example - I'm not sure if this is a case of radio stations pulling the ads because they felt they were inappropriate, or if it was the manufacturer who pulled the ads voluntarily:

AYDS diet candy...pronounced "Aids." Advertising for this product disappeared from the airwaves in the mid 1980s. Reason obvious. The ads were a staple of network radio newscasts, especially ABC radio.


Link to a 1981 TV commercial for AYDS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr-jtbpUtdU