CENSORSHIP BY FIRST AMENDMENT “CHAMPIONS”
SF Bay Area Stations Refuse to Run Pro-Gun Ads

The non-profit organization Citizens Of America has encountered the only opposition to broadcasting its pro-firearm, pro-self defense one-minute radio ads in its home state of California, which is arguably one of the worst abusers of gun owners and the Second Amendment.

The four station groups that refused to run the ads are: KEZR 106.5 FM, KISQ “KISS-FM” 98.1, KRTY/KLIV/KARA, and KSJO/KFOX . These stations are located in the San Francisco Bay area. COA coordinator Michael Pelletier encountered the rejections while looking for stations to broadcast a second $4,000 round of COA ads in the Bay Area.

The KRTY/KLIV/KARA rejection did not come directly from the owner or management, Pelletier noted. Instead, he gave up trying to buy airtime from them at his initial contact last December because he was told by the advertising sales rep that the station owner was "pro gun-control." Reports Pelletier, "my conversation with the sales rep went on for some time, with her regaling me with the the benefits of advertising with their station group. But when she realized, after an initial misunderstanding, that I was planning to place ANTI gun-control ads, not pro-gun-control ads, the conversation came to a swift conclusion."

The representative for KSJO (rock/metal) and KFOX (classic rock) stations said "the money's really rolling in" and that the ads weren’t "worth the hassle for the $4,000 you have”, according to Pelletier, who interpreted this to mean “In other words, ‘we don't need your money’ ".

KEZR “Mix 106.5” did run COA ads several weeks ago but refused to do so again. KEZR program director Jim Murphy said that after receiving complaints the station decided the tone of the ads did not fit in with their "listening environment". Pelletier followed up with a phone call to Murphy. “He got a total of 1 complaint via e-mail,” Pelletier said.

But this reason was ignored completely when Pelletier subsequently received an email from KEZR station employee Lyn Johnson, who stated: “Apparently all the commercials on the CD are too controversial to run on Mix 106.5.” Pelletier wrote back to the station, stating, “If even the "Senator" ad, an even-toned, non-confrontational, ironically humorous piece of work, can be considered "too controversial" then I submit that it's not the copy that's the problem, it's the ideas being expressed.” According to Pelletier this station is owned by CBS, who also own KCBS news radio.

KISS FM station manager Steve Watkins also gave the “clashing format” reason to Pelletier. But when COA President Brian Puckett asked Watkins in a phone conversation if KISS FM would run comparatively low-key ads that simply feature women speaking (“I'm No Slave” and “Get Smart Sisters”), or two other low-key ads with men speaking (“Senator’s Speech” and “Multi-message”) Watkins still refused, Puckett said, repeating his complaint that COA’s “creative approach” to the ads was unacceptable. “Then he said the station was afraid the public would assume they endorsed COA’s message,” Puckett reports. “I pointed out that the station ran ads for everything from bed mattresses to opposing political candidates, and I asked him, ‘Do you think your listeners think the station endorses the mattresses or both candidates? He just changed the subject.”

Puckett said, “After more talk, in which I pointed out that our message was basically an attempt to save the lives of citizens, especially women, by warning them of the dangers of being disarmed by the government, I said that it was clear that the station was basically engaging in censorship, that it was blindly obeying the ‘politically correct’ government line, that the station was assuming its listeners agreed that there was no right to self-defense or to keep and bear arms, and that it assumed its listeners were fools.” Puckett continued, “I suppose I was less than friendly at that point but I don’t like being lied to. These stations have no problem running mindless movie ads containing noise, screaming, or violence. But when it comes to the issue of real citizens dying they claim the ads "ruin the 'mood' of the program."

According to Puckett, this de-facto censorship is a perfect example of why corporate ownership of several stations in a particular broadcast area should be restricted and why newspaper ownership of radio stations in a particular area – which limits non-internet news sources – should be forbidden or severely restricted. “If there were an infinite number of radio frequencies available I wouldn’t feel this way, but there aren’t.” Puckett said. “And in theory the public owns the radio bandwidth and leases the right to use it to stations. In any case, this does show that COA’s pro-gun ads are feared by the opposition, and that’s as good an endorsement as any.”