Just a note on how this can work.
The Sinclair boycott website lists two advertisers on WSTR, the Sinclair station in Cincinnati, Ohio. I know some folks haven’t been able to access the site, but the two listed are King’s Automall and LaRosa’s, a pizzeria chain.
I called WSTR and the sales manager wasn’t available. The woman I spoke to could not confirm that King’s Automall and LaRosa’s were advertising at this moment. But she did say that they were regular advertisers on the station.
I then called LaRosa’s and King’s Automall to ask if they were indeed presently advertising on WSTR. In both cases I was told the person in question was at lunch. So I wasn’t able to get confirmation from the advertisers.
But you can see how this is done. As the reader earlier today noted, the key is to talk to the sales manager. Tell that person of your concerns and that you’ll be contacting the advertisers individually to do the same.
Specificity is key.
And one other point about tactics and decency, which overlap in this case. Please don’t be rude or hostile. Be firm. Make clear that you’re serious. And make your feelings known. But remember that the advertiser in question probably didn’t know anything about this until today or maybe yesterday. And the person you’ll actually be talking to at the station, and even more so with the advertiser, is as likely as not to be a Kerry supporter. What Sinclair is doing is egregious. But if you start making calls you’ll be talking to a lot of folks who don’t even know what’s going on with all this and certainly aren’t directly responsible for it.
Finally, and again, there are good instructions for how to approach this in the reader letter posted here this morning. And here’s the list of Sinclair’s local stations.
