Townsquare Media has been fined $500,000 by the FCC for failing to disclose to listeners that a weekly program — Red Wave Radio, before being rebranded to Keep Idaho Red — aired on Talk Radio KIDO and News Radio 13110 KLIX was actually paid for by the Idaho Republican Party.
The program aired on weekends from October 2021 through March 2023, according to Inside Radio.
The show was produced to sound like a public affairs program, but the airtime was purchased by the Idaho Republican Party and later by the party’s committee chair Tom Luna, who co-hosted the program.
The program continually violated FCC sponsor identification rules and also failed to show up in the station’s political files.
After an agreement with the FCC, Townsquare has agreed to pay a $500,000 penalty to the U.S. Treasury in $30,000 installments.
