Tancredo foe says radio exec ordered ad pulled

Charley Able, Rocky Mountain News

Published November 2, 2006 at midnight

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The campaign for Bill Winter, who is trying to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo in Colorado's 6th Congressional District, said Wednesday that a Denver radio executive who donated to Tancredo's campaign ordered that an ad criticizing what Winter says is the incumbent's support from racist groups be pulled.

The executive, Tim Brown, chief operating officer for NRC Broadcasting, said he does not consider the ad titled "Dateline: South Carolina" offensive, and it continues to run on the air.

"We have been receiving complaints from our listeners. At JACK-FM, like any other broadcaster, we listen to our listeners," Brown said. "What we suggested was: Is there a way for us to run more of your other two commercials because of the complaints we were receiving?"

Brown, who has donated at least $1,500 to Tancredo's re-election bid, said the ad is running in the 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. time slot as required by the station's contract with Winter's campaign.

But Berrick Abramson, Winter's campaign manager, said he was called by a station representative early Wednesday and told the ads had to be pulled.

An e-mail message forwarded to the Rocky Mountain News by Abramson seems to confirm that.

"Management has given me no choice but to pull this spot. As I said, we will be happy to run your other spots, but we cannot run the South Carolina spot," the e-mail, apparently from NRC's Neil Conway, said.

The "Dateline: South Carolina" ad begins with what sounds like a radio news announcer reporting on messages of support for Tancredo from "right-wing hate groups."

"Members of the League of the South, the Aryan Brotherhood and the American Nazis have all thrown their support to Tom Tancredo," the voice says before another voice reveals the "news item is a spoof" but goes on to say its contents are true.

Abramson said the station's request to pull the spot was initiated not by complaints from JACK-FM listeners, but by Brown.

A news release issued by the Winter campaign said the station's general sales manager, who was not identified by name, told Abramson "the CEO (Brown) heard the spot and wants it off the air."

Brown, however, said NRC Broadcasting complies with federal laws regarding campaign advertising and he keeps his political contributions separate from his professional duties.

"If you look at all of my radio stations right now, we run an equal number of ads for all issues on both sides and we run an equal number of ads for either party as required by law," Brown said. "There is nothing personal or anything like that."

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