BA and the bad DAB ad

I refer to the letter “Advertising on air” by Mario Axiak, Head of Communications and Research at the Broadcasting Authority (17 September).

This was intended as a reply to my letter “Sleeping on the job” (7 September), where I complained that an advert for DAB on various radio stations, has been denigrating the analogue varies, in breach of advertising regulations.

Mr Axiak contends that “the Broadcasting Authority had already acknowledged and replied to his [Joe Genovese’s] email, informing him that the issue raised in his complaint does not fall under its remit”.

True, the BA did write informing me of this.

What Mr Axiak did not say was that this email from the Broadcasting Authority was dated 5 September. This was four days after I sent my email to the media.

What neither Mr Axiak nor I knew at the time, was that this email, the second from the BA, was directed to my junk folder, completely bypassing my inbox.

I am sending a copy of this email to both this paper’s editor and to Mr Axiak where it clearly indicates that my email account had identified this second email as spam.

This second email from the BA was identified as spam, contrary to the first which landed in my inbox, as the BA used different email sender addresses in both communications.

The second email bore the same domain as the first, but a different sender, which seems to have aroused Hotmail’s suspicion that it was a classic tenant for the junk folder.

I trust, Mr Editor and Mr Axiak, that the matter has now been clarified.

I was angry that this advert has been around for months, apparently unbeknown to those who should know.

Mr Axiak also laments that I gave no indication as to what radio stations the DAB advert has been doing the rounds on, or the times.

It has been airing for months on PBS on the Familja Wahda programme, immediately following the 10am news roundup, day in day out, without let-up.

Mr Axiak said that this falls under the remit of MCCAA.

How’s this for irony, Mr Axiak? Every two weeks, for the past months that this advert has been aired, there has been an MCCAA representative present in the PBS studio as a guest on Familja Wahda, her slot being interrupted by the 10am round- up and then resuming after the ads that come hard on the heels of this round-up. Joe Genovese Birkirkara