Voters blasted by variety of radio ads

WASHINGTON -- Stuck in traffic in a battleground state? Chances are you'll be barraged with radio ads from presidential candidates and those who love — or hate — them.

Democrat Barack Obama has money to burn and is spending it everywhere. Republican John McCain has been watching his wallet, and radio spots are good value. Labor unions and the National Rifle Association are also in the mix.

"Radio was all but given up for dead," media analyst Evan Tracey says. "We're going back to the future."

Radio ads are cheap to make and run, and easy to target. Obama and McCain ads run the gamut from stem cell research and taxes to Iraq and trade, on stations aimed at blacks, Hispanics, conservatives, evangelicals, news and sports junkies, and hunters.

As Election Day nears, independent groups are making closing arguments and imploring people to vote. In AFL-CIO ads on urban and Spanish stations in 16 cities, celebrities such as rapper Ludacris advise listeners to bring ID to the polls and stay in line even after closing. The American Federation of Government Employees, in a national buy, urges people to disregard race and gender in deciding their vote.

The NRA is telling gun owners in key states that Obama will take away their rights. The pro-McCain Family Research Council and the pro-Obama Matthew 25 Network (after the Bible verse about being judged on how one treats "the least" among us) are fighting over Obama's abortion views on Christian radio.

The United Auto Workers union is spending $3 million in six states on TV and radio ads about jobs and health care. "Radio is a very good medium to reach people who work for a living, going back and forth to their jobs," UAW spokesman Roger Kerson says.

Northern Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., media market, is a top battleground. Tracey says it costs an average $1,700 to $2,500 to run a 30-second political ad on a network TV affiliate.

A 30-second ad on all-news radio in the same market costs the NRA $500 to $600 per airing, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam says. The ads run often and "people hear your message more than once," he says.