Asheville News

WLOSers bow to pressure, gut Fraboni’s Restaurant Report Card

Jason Sandford February 25, 2008

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

Two sources now report to Ashvegas that management at WLOS has bowed to advertising pressure and ordered Frank Fraboni to only report the best scoring restaurants in his Restaurant Report Card each Friday.

In this post, a loyal Ashvegas reader reported that a low-scoring restaurant pulled its television advertising in response to one of Frank’s report cards. Now comes loyal reader THE man to confirm it:

It is true and it is sad. WLOS thinks of itself as a product and not a service. Frank’s reports were one of the few services WLOS provided to the community and management wants to just let it go without a fight. Frank, good job and I am sorry that WLOS managers have no balls!

Sad, indeed.

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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3 Comments

Weather Watcher February 27, 2008

Good grief…I realize that WLOS is a profit driven business but to pull a storyline because of advertising pressure concerns me. Will WLOS now bow to pressure and not cover a story if a local used car dealership, a home decor store, or a leading grocery store chain doesn’t like what is being said about them? On occasion and in the beginning of the Friday coverage, Frank Fraboni’s stories could seem a little confrontational. However, these ratings are public information! Surely WLOS is capable of offsetting the loss of revenue from one advertiser and not falling victim to profit based censorship!

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Soni February 26, 2008

I got one word for Frank – YouTube.

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Sly Dawg February 25, 2008

Well that takes all of the fun out of those reports. It also makes it pretty much a useless series.

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