Media Action Center

May 22, 2012

Starting May 9th, the first day of what has become known as the Scott Walker recall campaign, members of the Media Action Center Wisconsin monitored the five "Conservative" Talk Radio programs aired in prime dayparts in the Milwaukee radio market. The shows include those hosted by Mark Belling, Vicki McKenna, and Jay Weber on WISN, the 50,000 watt radio station licensed to Clear Channel, and Charlie Sykes and Jeff Wagner on WTMJ, the 50,000 watt radio station licensed to Journal Communications. Both stations are called "News Talk" by their corporate owners. Both reach far beyond the city of their license, into most of the state of Wisconsin and beyond.

The purpose of the project was to

1) Determine specifically how much time each licensee is devoting to promoting each major political party during the campaign season.

2) Determine any notable imbalance in time offered to each political party.

3) Determine whether the talk programs qualify as "bonafide news" per FCC requirements for exemptions for comparable time under Section 315(a) of the Communications Act or under the FCC's "Quasi-Equal Opportunities" rule, known as the Zapple Doctrine.

4) Determine whether comparable time should be offered under Section 315(a) of the Communications Act or under the FCC's "Quasi-Equal Opportunities" rule, known as the Zapple Doctrine.

Methodology:

Five separate monitors recorded and timed statements made on each of the five programs. They counted how many minutes per show have been either clearly pro-Scott Walker and Anti-Tom Barrett, how many minutes have been anti-Scott Walker and pro-Barrett, and how many minutes have been pro-GOP and anti Democrat in general, and how many were pro-Democrat and anti-GOP. They also monitored statements made about the candidates for Lieutenant Governor and the State Senate. These will be offered in the final tally, but are statistically small; statements about the Governors race and parties in general, however, are frequent, so this report will focus on those.

The monitors were instructed to count only those statements which could be clearly identified as pro- or anti- one candidate or party.

Examples:

“Governor Walker is going to be on the show. Yay! My governor is a Jedi.”

Tom Barrett is an idiot, Tom Barrett is a racist.

“when good people come forward to run for office the Democrats put a hit squad out on them.” -McKenna. “Literally.” -Schimming.

Results:

1) Determine specifically how much time each licensee is devoting to promoting each major political party during the campaign season.

Findings:

WISN

Pro Walker/ anti Barrett

5-9 1:49:28

5-10 42:54

5-11 1:00:08

5-14 49:46

5-15 48:30

5-16 1:00:26

5-17 53:07

sub 7:04:19

daily average 60 mins

Pro GOP/ Anti Dem

5-9 8:43

5-10 6:44

5-11 29:04

5-14 35:32

5-15 14:19

5-16 19:02

5-17 30:32

sub 2:23:56

daily average 20 mins

Pro-Barrett/Anti-Walker

5-9 4:58

5-10 0:00

5-11 0:00

5-14 0:00

5-15 0:00

5-16 :25

5-17 1:06

sub 6:29
daily average: 55 seconds

Pro-Dem/anti GOP
0:00

WTMJ

ProWalker/Anti Barrett total:

5-9 51:30

5-10 58:58

5-11 51:54

5-14 34:34

5-15 40:49

5-16 50:43

5-17 52:25

subtotal 5:40:53

daily average 49 minutes

Pro GOP/ Anti Dem total

5-9 0:00

5-10 1:38:14

5-11 46:15

5-14 31:20

5-15 31:18

5-16 30:57

5-17 38:01

sub 4:36:05

Daily average 39 minutes

Pro Barrett Anti/Walker total

0:00

Pro Dem / Anti GOP total

5-9 0:00

5-10 5:29

5-11 0:00

5-14 0:00

5-15 3:81

5:16 :10

5-17 3:37

sub 13:37

Daily average 2 minutes

We continue to compile numbers, and will post full results when they are completed, but based on the first seven days of the recall campaign, we are finding that WISN is airing an average of about 80 minutes, and WTMJ about 88 minutes, per day of Pro-Walker/ anti-Barrett and pro-GOP anti-Democrat messages. On the pro- Barrett side, we have identified a total of just six and one-half minutes of pro-Barrett messaging over the seven days on WISN, and 13 and a half minutes of pro- Democratic messaging on WTMJ.

Considering that the programs monitored air for more than 15 hours daily, this represents a small percentage of total airtime.

However, should one wish to purchase that much time during a campaign, the cost would be quite high. It is difficult to precisely say how many dollars such airtime would cost, as stations charge lower rates to candidates than they do to supporters of candidates, and they charge different rates to various supporters. Stations also are reluctant to release what they consider proprietary information. Based on inspections of the political files our team conducted of public files at WISN and WTMJ, we can say that one radio advertising spot costs roughly $100 to $200, depending on the length and the time of airing.

So we have extrapolated these numbers out and found that WISN is giving Walker and his GOP supporters between $16,000 - $32,000 in free airtime every day, and WTMJ is giving them between $18,000 to $36,000 in free time daily.

Between the two, we estimate that WISN and WTMJ hasgiven as much as $680,000 in free airtime to the GOP, Scott Walker, and his supporters just in the first ten days of this election cycle.

Most of the time has been given to supporters of Candidate Walker, although the candidate has appeared as a guest on six programs since the race began May 9th.

--------------------------

2) Determine any notable imbalance in time offered to each political party.

Based on the data noted above, WISN and WTMJ are clearly both giving GOP candidates and supporters nearly exclusive time on their licensed stations.

In addition, the cadre of guests booked on the five programs shows a clear imbalance.

The three programs aired on WISN, Belling, McKenna and Weber, booked fourteen guests over first eight days of monitoring. Of the fourteen, only one, J.R. Ross, can be considered independent analysts. The rest are either Republican candidates, GOP political appointees, or Republican party appointees, campaign heads, or current officeholders.

On WTMJ, seven guests appeared on the two shows over the eight days. Of the seven, only one, Christian Schneider, may be considered an independent analyst. The rest are either Republican candidates, GOP political appointees, or Republican party appointees, campaign heads, or current officeholders.

Current candidates as guests within the first eight days of the campaign:

WISN:

GOP Governor and candidate Scott Walker appeared on all three of WISN's programs: once on Belling, twice on McKenna, and once on Jay Weber. GOP Lt Gov. and candidate Rebecca Kleefish appeared once on Belling and once on McKenna. GOP Candidate Sen. Van Wangaard appeared once on McKenna.

WTMJ:

GOP Governor Scott Walker appeared three times on the Sykes show.

Section 315 (a) of the Communications Act provides for equal opportunities for major party candidates should their opponent be given or sold time. The opposing candidates have seven days from the date of a broadcast to make such a request. This author is unaware whether Democratic candidates Tom Barrett or Mahlon Mitchell made such requests or whether the stations made opportunities available to Democratic candidates.

In addition, GOP Senatorial candidate Eric Hovde appeared twice on WISN, once on the Belling program, once on the McKenna show. He also appeared once on WTMJ's Sykes show. As Hovde's election will be held in November, this appearance is outside the sixty day prior to elections rule, and his opponent has no legal standing to demand equal time.

Supporters of Candidates guesting on programs:

WISN

GOP Rep Robin Voss appeared once on the Belling program, and once on the Weber program. Brian Schimming , Vice Chair WI GOP is a regular guest on the McKenna show, appearing four times over eight days. GOP Rep. Bill Kramer and GOP State Senator Glenn Grothman each appeared once on McKenna. GOP Milwaukee City Alderman Bob Donavan appeared once on the Weber program. GOP State Senator Ron Johnson appeared once on the Weber program, and GOP State Senator Alberta Darling appeared once on the Weber programs. Walker political appointee Stephanie Klett appeared once on the McKenna show.

WTMJ

On WTMJ, GOP Rep. Robin Vos appeared once on Sykes, as did Walker political appointee Cathy Stepp, and GOP Milwaukee City Alderman Bob Donavan. GOP State Senator Alberta Darling appeared once on Wagner's show.

All these guests were clearly supporters of Scott Wallker and/or the other GOP candidates. Under the quasi-equal opportunities doctrine, in the 60 days prior to an election, stations must provide comparable time for supporters of the opposing party if they so request it within seven days of a given broadcast.

Supporters of Tom Barrett did make such requests; the stations have denied them comparable time.

Section 315 (a) of the Communications Act imposes Equal Opportunities for candidates on broadcast stations. It says that (a) If any licensee shall permit any person who is a legally qualified candidate for any public office to use a broadcasting station, he shall afford equal opportunities to all other such candidates for that office in the use of such broadcasting station. If a program is considered "bonafide news" they are exempt from this rule.

This law was expanded in 1970 in Nicholas Zapple V FCC by a vote of FCC Commissioners to require comparable time to supporters of major party candidates. Commonly known as the quasi-equal opportunities rule, this applies only to supporters of major party candidates. If one side has received free airtime, the FCC's Zapple Doctrine requires the other side also receive free time.

Stations in Wisconsin are fully aware of these requirements, as these FCC rules are provided to Wisconsin radio and TV stations by their own Wisconsin Association of Broadcasters. See pages five and six.

If, however, a radio program is considered "bonafide news," it does not have to comply with equal opportunities requirements.

According to the FCC, programs must meet three tests to be considered "bonafide news." The program must be regularly scheduled, producers must be in control of guests and content, and the program must be non-partisan, not supporting any candidates.

All five programs meet the requirements of being regularly scheduled and having producers in control of guests and content. The question remained whether the programs are non-partisan and not supporting candidates. The monitoring showed that on this test, all five programs failed, some more spectacularly than others.

As shown previously, the number and character or guests invited on the five programs were heavily tilted toward the GOP side.

As to whether the shows were non-partisan and not being used in support of any candidates, we have identified many examples of partisanship on all five programs. Hosts routinely identify themselves as supporters of Scott Walker, urge listeners to vote for Walker, and we have documented that three of the shows, those on Clear Channel's WISN, which are actively using the publicly owned radio airwaves to recruit volunteers for Walker and the other GOP candidates.

Examples:

WISN:

Mark Belling:

"Urging people to vote for Walker." "I do support Walker"

Vicki McKenna:

McKenna tells listeners to volunteer for Sen. Wangaard

McKenna routinely refers to the Republican Party as “we,” not “they”

McKenna openly advertises tickets for the state Republican convention

Guest Schimming recruits volunteers for Walker

McKenna recruits volunteers for Walker, Sen. Wangaard, and Lt. Gov. Kleefisch.

Jay Weber:

“I know I’m partisan”

Praised all four republican senate candidates – “they would all be good”

“Scott Walker and we supporters of his”

Weber asks listeners to volunteer for Walker campaign, gives website to go to

“we need more volunteers to make those contact calls”

WTMJ:

Charlie Sykes:

Said that he was going use his program for Conservatives to give their side of the story.

"If Bob Bowman is going to call up an talk while we are talking with Bob Donavan, we are not going to let him on. He had his shot. Bob Donavan will be able to make his point uninterrupted by Major Tom Barrett's lacky Aldermen Bob Bowman."

Jeff Wagner:

I have “genuine passion and support for the governor”

Because all five of the local Talk Radio programs on WISN and WTMJ in Milwaukee are showing poltical intent in their programming, they do not qualify as "bonafide news" programs and are therefore subject to the Equal Opportunities rules in the Zapple Doctrine.

News Distortion

The FCC also has clear rules against news distortion, so any program which is distorting facts in any way cannot be considered "bonafide news." Our monitoring team has found numerous examples of news distortion in all five programs. Some examples that are easily debunked:

Belling: Obama's stimulus "hasn't produced any gain in employment at all"

McKenna No Planned Parenthood in Wisconsin does cancer screenings.

Sykes: Walker got more votes than Democrats combined

If a program willingly distorts facts, it must not be considered a "bonafide news" program.

4) Should comparable time should be offered under Section 315(a) of the Communications Act or under the FCC's "Quasi-Equal Opportunities" rule, known as the Zapple Doctrine?

Our findings show that WISN and WTMJ are both airing programming which is extremely tilted toward only one major political party. We find that all five local Talk Radio programs studied are showing obvious political intent in what they are airing on our public airwaves. Therefore, the Quasi- equal opportunities rule (Zapple Doctrine) does apply, and WISN and WTMJ must provide comparable time to supporters of Tom Barrett and the Democrats now through the end of the election.

In order for the quasi-equal opportunities Doctrine to be triggered, supporters of candidates must request comparable time from the station within seven days of an imbalanced broadcast.

Several Tom Barrett supporters have complied with this rule. WTMJ has written them back, denying them time; WISN has not responded to the dozens of requests sent to them.

The FCC is aware of this situation. A formal complaint will be made to the FCC to rectify this situation immediately.

Media Action Center

Pages

Formal Complaint to FCC filed on behalf of Wisconsin citizens

Press Conference of Scott Walker Recall Talk Radio Monitoring Report

Scott Walker Recall Talk Radio Monitoring Project

Wisconsin Supporters of Tom Barrett Demand Equal Time Tuesday!

Please join us Tuesday at 10 AM in front of WTMJ, 720 East Capitol Drive, Milwaukee, Wisconsin for our press conference where supporters of Tom Barrett will be demanding comparable time on WISN and WTMJ.

We will release the stunning results of our monitoring project, and will make an urgent request to the FCC to enforce existing laws requiring equal time for supporters of Barrett.

PLEASE BLOG, SHARE and please stand up for your rights Tuesday as the owners of the Radio Airwaves!

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