"Our typical customer is the guy who likes to smoke on the weekend, but then has to pass a test during the week," Savers says. "We sell piss, not drugs, and if that were illegal, I'd be arrested every morning."
So Savers can't understand why his favorite radio station, KQBZ 100.7 FM, "the Buzz," billed as Seattle's "outrageous talk" outlet, refused his company's advertising. As Savers points out, the Buzz is a primary sponsor of Hempfest, and is home for top-rated syndicated talker Tom Leykis, who is known for his callers' "take me out with a bong hit" requests, invariably followed by gurgling water and coughing sound effects.
In mid-August, Savers says, he decided it was time for Testclear, previously reliant on word of mouth (they also advertise on The Stranger's back page), to experiment with radio advertising. The Buzz rep seemed enthusiastic, and worked out terms for an initial one-week run of 30-second spots throughout the day, for around $500. Then, however, the rep called back to say that station higher-ups had decided not to accept Testclear's ads, deeming them inappropriate.
"We saw [the Buzz] had a big booth at Hempfest, yet now they won't take our ads. They're saying, 'We endorse pot smoking, but don't endorse pot smokers keeping their jobs.' The hypocrisy just continues," Savers says.
KQBZ is owned by Entercom, owner of seven Seattle stations, most of which, like KIRO 710 AM, have more traditional news and music formats. A station representative did not return several calls.
