Re: Local Political Coverage

["Bill O'Neill" <billo@shoreham.net>]

> On the other hand, I hear that in 1994, the last time we had a
contested
> race for Town Moderator in Brookline, the winning candidate spent
about
> $20,000 of his own money.  But he's probably wealthy enough that
this
> would have been small change to him.

>  A. Joseph Ross, J.D.

And $20K spread between local print and local radio (if one still
exists) at rates under $50 per hour can leave money to spare on a few
pens and door hangers.     Even if a station like WBZ "accepted" the
spot buy, you could kiss that budget goodbye very quickly with
questionable results.  A number of candidates for Lowell's City
Counsel and School Committee who have dedicated a good portion of
their meager budgets in morning drive on local radio have consistently
seen better results at the polls.  Problem is, not ever municipality
has a "local" (versus big box regional) station that they can even buy
into at rates that they can afford ($20-50 a whack) and get ANY spot
volume to speak of.

Bill O'Neill