Palin song – would it be legal here?

Sarah Palin‘s arrival in the US (Vice) Presidential campaign has stirred up fierce feelings on both sides of the political divide, and she has almost eclipsed her running-mate in terms of the amount of press coverage, blog posts etc.

Now one Gerry Stanek, a folk rock musician from Pennsylvania, has come out with a humorous country balled “I’m In Love With A Girl Called Sarah Palin“, which treads the line between comedy and admiration so well that I can’t work out if it is serious, satire, or just a very clever move by the singer.

The latter is certainly true in any case – it will doubtless get airplay and lots of hits to his myspace page where the song can be heard – http://www.myspace.com/gerrystanek

Interesting to wonder what would happen in this country (Ireland) if a similar song were released during an election campaign – radio stations would almost certainly be prohibited from playing it, or perhaps could only do so if they gave equal airplay to songs from other candidates!

Election-time is a bonanza for broadcasters in the US with massive advertising spending by the different campaigns. Political advertising is not allowed in our system, much to the regret of the ad sales agencies I’m sure.

In light of the recent comments from the radio industry about the Lisbon Referendum, maybe it is time for the whole area to be looked at again. Fairly administered, is there any reason why radio should not benefit from the big advertising spend currently going to newspapers (and poster printers!) up and down the land?

As for Gerry Stanek – way to pimp your career.

You go guy!

Steve

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