Re: WJUL "Lowell SunRise"

["Sean Smyth" <ssmyth@suscom.net>]

Aaron Read writes:
> The most egregious was not exactly a spot, but the announcers were touting
> some sports arena and at one point they said (paraphrasing here) "Get your
> tickets...now is the best time to get them"  and a few sentences later
they
> mentioned that the arena was an underwriter of the Lowell SunRise.    I
> think if you dissected it word-by-word it just barely squeaked past being
a
> call to action and promoting a sponsor's goods.  Both are prohibited, of
> course http://www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/nature.html     But it was right on the
> line.

First of all, I've heard plenty of non-comms in my neck of the woods running
full-fledged stop sets. WMSS-FM (91.1 Middletown, Pa.) and WJTL (90.3
Lancaster, Pa.) are the most flagrant violators of the underwriting rules,
running spots (yes, they are spots) for everything from local ski resorts
(in WJTL's case) to the corner auto body shop (as WMSS does). At least WJUL
is smart enough to toe the line, not jump over it and scream "neener,
neener" in the process.

Secondly, I'm guessing the arena they were mentioning was Tsongas Arena (I
didn't hear this morning's show, either). Some of the original plans called
for the arena to house the studio that SunRise would use. The arena was
built with state funds and is still controlled by the university. Granted,
the concerts/events are likely being promoted by someone else (a for-profit
company) -- but how would shilling for an event on campus be violating
underwriting regs? Last I checked, UMass-Lowell is not a commercial entity
and they would be receiving a sizable share of the monies generated by any
events in Tsongas.


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