The specific issue we're here to discuss is advertising, but really the broader and more important topic is minority participation in the broadcasting business. Promoting minority participation in broadcasting is something that the FCC has long been committed to and that is a special concern of mine.
Advertising is the lifeblood of the broadcasting business.
Conversely, those stations that aren't able to attract their fair share of ad dollars aren't as likely to do those things, which ultimately means that they are less able to get their voice out to the public. Today's study is a first step in determining whether advertising practices unfairly hamper minorities who want to enter and succeed in the broadcasting business. But it is only a first step. For instance, although the study concludes that minority-targeted stations attract less ad revenues per listener than stations that program for the general market, the study can't draw definitive conclusions about why this may be so. Follow-up is needed to determine whether these differences are due to legitimate business reasons or whether they're based on unfounded stereotypes about the minority market.