Radio Archives - WPTF-AM

New FDA rules for TV & radio drug ads: Simpler language and no distractions

WASHINGTON (AP) — New rules require drugmakers to be clearer about explaining the risks and side effects of prescription drugs. The new guidelines from the the Food and Drug Administration are designed to do away with pharmaceutical industry practices that downplay or distract viewers from risk information. FDA officials spent more than 15 years crafting the rules, which apply to both TV and radio ads. But while regulators were drafting them, a new trend has emerged: pharmaceutical influencers pushing drugs online with little government oversight. A new congressional proposal would compel FDA to police those social media promotions.… Continue Reading

In Iran, the old-time US radio detective ‘Johnny Dollar’ returns to the airwaves

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,” a radio program created by CBS in 1949 that found a devoted listenership in Farsi, has returned to Iranian radio. It’s not clear why exactly the network controlled by hard-liners have decided to bring back “the man with the action-packed expense account,” but his reappearance harkens back to an era when Iran and the U.S. enjoyed incredibly close relations. And the newly produced episodes introduce younger generations to a character that many older Iranians still have a decades-old fondness for, their ears perking up as show starts with its signature three gunshots and Johnny Dollar answering a ringing phone with his name.… Continue Reading