Pen-l, A Sacramento Bee news report below on how the Sac Greens for Nader campaign got on the airwaves of Capital Public Radio (CPR). People otherwise don't have free access to the radio facilities at CPR. That, however, doesn't stop CPR from getting $17,700 from the Sacramento Metropolitan Cable Television Commission for the current fiscal year, however. The Commission received $4.1 million from Comcast Cable, or 3 percent of the firm's gross annual income, as the only provider of cable TV to Sacramento County. Disclosure: Green Party congressional candidate Ken Adams, who is running against Democrat Robert Matsui, is a personal friend of mine.) Seth Sandronsky Capital Public Radio reluctantly running Nader ads By John Hill Bee Capitol Bureau (Published Nov. 4, 2000) The Sacramento Nader for President Campaign is using an obscure provision of the Federal Communications Act to get free airtime to plug the Green Party candidate on Capital Public Radio between now and Election Day. "They shut him out of the debates, but they can't shut him out of the election," says the ad, which was scheduled to start airing Friday on KXJZ (88.9 FM) and will run once a day. "Vote Green. Put the people, not big money, back in charge." The rarely used provision of the law requires public radio stations, which normally are commercial-free, to give federal political candidates access to airwaves. In October, some congressional candidates in Maryland used the law to get free airtime on the public radio station in that state, touching off a furor among listeners unaccustomed to hearing commercials, the Washington Post reported. Julie Padilla, co-chair of the Sacramento Nader campaign, said the campaign considered the possibility of a backlash. "But we're secure enough in our message, which is that the airwaves are the public's airwaves, that everyone should have access and that we've actually been locked out of most of the media," she said. Capital Public Radio "made us very aware of the potential for that backlash," Padilla said, and required that the request be made by the national Nader campaign. The station also added an excerpt from a Nader speech at the end to meet a requirement of the law that the candidate's voice be included. "We had to jump through a few hoops to get this accomplished," Padilla said. Michael Lazar, president and general manager of the station, said publicity about the Maryland case set off a wave of requests to public radio stations across the nation. Capital Public Radio will also air one spot from Natural Law Party candidate John Hagelin and an interview with Green Party congressional candidate Ken Adams. The station is less than thrilled. "It's so different than everything else we do," Lazar said. "But we're licensed by the FCC, and we know we also have to comply with the law." The station will run a disclaimer after the ads. Lazar said a bill has been introduced in Congress that will strike the free airtime provision. _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com. Share information about yourself, create your own public profile at http://profiles.msn.com.
