Councilman Joo Mu-yeol (Gwanak 2, Democratic Party of Korea) of the Seoul Metropolitan Council’s Steering Committee confirmed that a significant portion of the council’s public relations budget is being allocated to YTN Radio, which has low listenership, and raised questions about the budget’s efficiency. He also advocated for the council to use TBS for its public relations efforts, given its overwhelmingly higher accessibility to citizens.
On July 31, City Council Member Ju Mu-yeol confirmed during the first Steering Committee meeting held during the recess of the 338th Extraordinary Session that the City Council was paying YTN Radio as part of its public relations budget. At the meeting, the Secretariat responded, “We are spending a total of approximately 2.5 billion won on broadcast advertising, of which 400 to 500 million won (less than 500 million won) is allocated annually to radio advertising.”
When the Secretariat explained the criteria for selecting YTN Radio by stating that it was “the media outlet that provides the most opportunities for lawmakers to appear,” Representative Joo pointed out, “Wasn’t this decided regardless of listenership ratings?” and pressed for details on the listenership rankings. Regarding YTN Radio’s audience rating ranking, the Secretariat replied, “Since music programs dominate the top spots, its ranking is lower than the 10th to 20th positions.” After conducting further research, Representative Joo confirmed that YTN Radio ranked outside the top 100 and expressed doubts about whether the budget was being used effectively, given that promotional funds were being allocated to a channel with relatively low listenership.
Council Member Ju stated, “We should utilize TBS to promote the City Council going forward. The reason is that, due to its radio channel classification as FM1, TBS offers citizens overwhelmingly high radio accessibility, yielding significant practical benefits; furthermore, this initiative is useful for supporting TBS’s business environment, which has deteriorated. In particular, he stated that since the Korea Communications Commission has temporarily permitted TBS to run advertisements, the City Council should actively take advantage of this opportunity. To this end, he said he would work to persuade Seoul City Council Speaker Im Man-kyun and Operations Committee Chair Lee Byung-do to ensure that the City Council’s promotional budget is spent in a meaningful and efficient manner.
