Updated October 18 at 10:36 am
Updated October 17 at 6:36 pm to include additional radio stations.
Starting Friday, October 14, 2022, an aggressive anti-trans advertisement campaign began airing on local Pittsburgh radio stations 96.1 Kiss, WAMO 107.3, 102.5 WDVE , WISH 99.7, the X 105.9, Q 92.9, Y108, and KDKA Radio. The advertisements were accompanied by a disclaimer that the ad does not represent the views of the station.
7 Pittsburgh Radio Stations Banned from Pittsburgh Pride 2023 for Running Anti-Trans Ads
The advertisements, paid for by the political action committee “America First Legal”, attack President Biden for his policies supporting trans youth. The ad egregiously mischaracterizes what gender affirming healthcare is, what prescribed medicines do, and what services are and are not available at a specific age. It deliberately misgenders trans youth as “wanting to put boys in girls bathrooms and sports teams.” The ad can only be characterized as the most hateful and deliberately harmful advertisement to air in the Pittsburgh media market in years.
The advertisements are no longer running on 96.1 Kiss according to station hosts Tall Cathy and “The Morning Freak Show” hosts Mikey and Big Bob. 96.1 Kiss has been a sponsor of Pride events in the past.
QBurgh has reached out to 102.5 WDVE, the X 105.9, WAMO 107.3, WISH 99.7, and KDKA Radio regarding the status of the ads on their stations. We will update this story with their comments.
You can listen to the ad below. Content warning as the ad is extremely hateful and misleading.
America First Legal PAC was founded by Stephen Miller, a former Trump White House policy adviser and known racist, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
96.1 Kiss, the X 105.9, and 102.5 WDVE are owned by iHeartRadio/iHeartMedia. Wish 99.7 is owned by Renda Broadcasting, WAMO 107.3 is owned by Radio Power Inc, and KDKA Radio is owned by CBS.
