Radio Station WMCA, owned by R. Peter Straus, is eager to continue carrying Japan Air Lines commercials despite charges by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith that JAL is participating in an anti-Israel boycott, a spokesman for the airline’s advertising agency confirmed to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today. The spokesman, representing the Botsford Ketchum ad agency, said JAL’s six-week spring radio campaign on several local stations ended last Saturday but would be renewed at some future date. The spokesman declined to specify to the JTA when the campaign would be renewed. He denied, as have spokesmen for JAL, that the airline is engaging in an anti-Israel boycott.
WMCA’s acceptance of JAL advertising was pointed up dramatically on the Jan. 27 edition of the station’s late-night live talk-show hosted by Barry Gray, a staunch supporter of Israel. The guests that night were five officials of the ADL — Benjamin R. Epstein, national director; Arnold Forster, general counsel; Oscar Cohen, program director; Alex Miller, community services director, and Nat Belth, public relations director. During a time-out, the station aired a JAL commercial, after which Forster advised Gray that the airline was boycotting Israel. Gray expressed surprise at the information, and promised to take up the matter of JAL’s advertising campaign with the station’s management. The station, however, has advised JAL’s ad agency that it wants to get its advertising again the next time around. Forster, advised of WMCA’s decision by the JTA, said “it speaks for itself.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
