,

US: Cumulus Media Blocks Country Radio Stations From Airing Pete Buttigieg Interview

,

Cumulus Media, one of the largest broadcasting companies in the country, blocked one of its country radio station hosts from airing his interview with 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

Blair Garner, whose self-titled Nash FM radio show is syndicated nationally across more than 150 radio stations, interviewed Buttigieg on Wednesday while the Democratic candidate visited Nashville, Tennessee, as part of his campaign tour.

“It’s important to Pete to reach voters everywhere,” Buttigieg campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith told HuffPost in a statement Sunday. “We’ve made it a point on this campaign to go outside the traditional political media bubble ― that’s why we reached out to Blair about an interview.”

“[Blair] has a big audience,” she added. “And it’s an audience that doesn’t typically hear directly from Democratic candidates for president.”

In his roughly 20-minute interview, Buttigieg discussed meeting country music icons Brad Paisley and Tim McGraw and called on the Democratic Party to reach out to more communities traditionally viewed as right-leaning. Read more via HuffPost