On This One Year Anniversary of Anti-Trans Messaging from Eight Pittsburgh Radio Stations — Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents

A Troubling Anniversary for the Pittsburgh LGBTQ Community

One year ago, I received my first tip about the transphobic ads running on local Pittsburgh radio stations. I spent a lot of hours trying to track down the ad, figure out the FCC information, and encouraging people to contact the stations.

All in all, eight of the regions nine major stations aired the ad. It was a greedy, reprehensible decision that created significant trauma for unsuspecting listeners, both in terms of hearing the ad content but also by the ways in which the ad reinforced ignorant and intolerant views by some people in the community.

One by one, they succumbed to pressure from community partners to pull the ad. The only holdout was our alleged holiday family values station, 99.7.

I Heart Media, Audacy, and Renda Broadcasting are the parents companies of these ads. Renda owns WSHH 99.7 and 17 other stations around the country. Audacy owns KDKA AM & FM, 93.7 The Fan, 100.7 Star, Y108, B94 and 10 total stations in the region, more nationally.

In the end, Renda didn’t budge, but the others did thanks to the community outrage…