Mayor Pete Buttigieg sat for an interview with a popular country radio host. But now it won’t air.

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg sat down to talk with a popular country music radio host in an attempt to reach voters outside the “traditional political media bubble,” according to his campaign — so why did his interview never air? Cumulus Media, parent company for the “Blair Garner Show,” cited the Federal Communications Commission “equal time rule” as rationale for the decision to withhold the interview. However, the right to equal time comes with four exceptions, one of which is a "bona fide news interview." Benton senior counselor Andrew Schwartzman said Buttigieg’s interview with Blair Garner almost certainly falls within an exemption to the rule. “This was almost certainly a bona fide news interview,” Schwartzman said. “If another candidate asked for equal opportunity, equal time, the station could say no.”  He added that even if the exemption didn’t apply, it would be such a hassle for other candidates to contact each licensee of Cumulus Media within seven days to ask for equal time that they probably wouldn’t bother anyway. “In practice, here’s the bottom line — it is highly unlikely that any candidate that wished to could successfully obtain time under equal opportunity…just to request the time is a process that is complicated and probably not worth it,” he said. “And anyway, this interview is almost certainly exempt.”  He continued: “This is much more likely to be about Cumulus not wanting to be seen as promoting a candidate who may not be particularly consonant with the proclivities of country station listeners since he is — how should we put this — gay.”