Re: Re:Re:Wired.com on Reversing Consolidation

["Dan Billings" <billings@suscom-maine.net>]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Garrett Wollman" <wollman@lcs.mit.edu>
To: "Dan Billings" <billings@suscom-maine.net>
Cc: <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
Sent: Friday, January 10, 2003 5:23 PM
Subject: Re: Re:Re:Wired.com on Reversing Consolidation


> Ouch.  I didn't realize that the LUC giveaway applied to non-Federal
> candidates as well.

Wow!  Something Garrett didn't know!  That never happens.  ;-)

Most smart operators are well aware of the lowest unit rate rule so they
structure their sales in election years so as to not have any bargain sales
on the books during the affected periods.  Stations often structure
long-term deals so that advertisers get low rates early in the year and then
pay higher rates during the period used to determine the lowest unit rates.

Last year, there was a special election in Maine in March.  The stations had
no way to plan for the election and many stations offer very low rates in
the first quarter.  As a result, the candidates got extremely low rates --
much lower than anyone got before the November election.  The stations could
have turned down the buys because it was not a federal election but most
didn't because their logs were not full at that time of year.  The only
station that I am aware of in Maine that was not accepting ads from state
and local candidates in 2002 was WHOM.  That actually makes some sense
considering their large signal.

-- Dan Billings, Bowdoinham, Maine