Wichita Radio: CCM+E Drops Ban On Women’s Center Ads

Clear Channel has decided to resume airing ads by the South Wind Women’s Center that it pulled off the air last month.

According to kansas.com, the company made the decision after reviewing its criteria for selecting ads and determining that the South Wind ads didn’t violate the law or Federal Communications Commission standards and weren’t intentionally hateful or incendiary, Tony Matteo, operations manager for Clear Channel in Wichita, said Tuesday.

South Wind, which opened earlier this year to offer reproductive medical services for women, including abortions, had planned to present petitions to Clear Channel on Wednesday containing 68,000 signatures of people who wanted the ads reinstated. The clinic is in the building that formerly housed the clinic of abortion provider George Tiller, who was murdered in 2009.

The ads first ran on Clear Channel’s KZSN, 102.1 FM, on July 1. They were pulled the same day, said Julie Burkhart, South Wind’s executive director.

The center was told the station thought the ads were divisive, she said.

The ads promote the center’s health care services for women and its physicians but don’t mention abortion. Burkhart said that was deliberate.

“We wanted to use language that would appeal to the most people and not offend people who might be opposed to one of the services we offer,” she said.

Other radio stations in Wichita have been running the ads without any problems, she said. Clear Channel owns four stations in Wichita, but the center’s ads ran only on KZSN.

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