By happenstance, the Maven has discovered an interesting "program" that appears on WLYV 104.3/1450 weekday mornings around 5:45am. This "program" may appear on other Adams Radio stations in town, but the Maven has only heard it at this time and on this station.
"60 Seconds With City Hall" is hosted by John Perlich, Director of Public Information for the City of Fort Wayne. The basic format of the "program" is Mr. Perlich reading the latest press release created from his office. While this may seem rather pedestrian and innocuous, the Maven has noticed that these "programs" have announced recent awards the City has earned as well monetary grants the City has won, under the leadership of Mayor Tom Henry. In a "program" last week Mr. Prelich was lavish in his praise of Senator Joe Donnelly in securing cash for the City. The Maven is sure the Senator's campaign was most appreciative of the mention on the radio.
Besides the obvious annoyance of this "program" cutting into regular music programming at precisely 5:45am, it often ends up-cutting into a song already playing.
No stranger to media and politics, the Maven notes that this "program" seems to offer a convenient conduit for a sitting mayor, running for reelection, to publicize city accomplishments to reinforce his campaign positions. Brilliant! While that scenario has not happened, yet (Municipal elections are a year away), the fact that other Democrats running for reelection (Senator Joe Donnelly, for example) have been mentioned in previous "programs".
Now, some may argue that this is no different than a mailed or emailed press release, the Maven points to some marked differences. First, press releases from outside sources are used at the discretion of the station/media outlet in regular, station-produced newscasts. In this case, it would appear that the station/media outlet is accepting, scheduling, and airing a pre-produced "program" hosted by a City employee and produced by, as the title says "City Hall".
On the occasions the Maven has listened to the "program" through its completion, there has been no mention if it's a commercial, a news-feature, a public service announcement, and there's no "tag" saying the "program" was provided by the City of Fort Wayne.
And the Feds may have an interest in "60 Seconds With City Hall" as it applies to the FCC Sponsorship Identification Rule as well as the Federal Trade Commissions Native Advertising Rule. Here's a link:
https://www.allaboutadvertisinglaw.com/2018/01/fcc-revives-its-own-native-advertising-rule-sponsorship-identification.html
And then there's the Federal Election Commission. They just love stuff like this.
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