Grand Rapids' TV Station Ran The Most Political Ads In The Country

I'm sure all of you are sick of the barrage of political ads leading up to the midterm elections last week. But if you seem extra fatigued by the constant negative campaign commercials, there's a reason. Grand Rapids' WZZM-13 ran the most ads of any station in the country in the last days of the election.

According to the Republican research firm Echelon Insights, WZZM ran an astounding 1820 political commercials in the last week of the hotly contested campaign, more than any other TV station in the nation.

Echelon co-founder Patrick Ruffini attributed the high number to "heavy spending in the governor's race, State Supreme Court races," a super PAC effort to oust Republican Congressman Fred Upton, and "numerous local races and ballot initiatives."

The two other top markets to run high numbers of ads were Des Moines, Iowa and Augusta, Georgia.

"This year was unusual in a number of different ways," said J anet Mason, general manager and president of WZZM told MLive.com.

She said while the station still is working to figure out how much money was brought in, it was "a good year," though not the best despite the sheer number of ads.

Meanwhile, Dale Woods, General Manager of WHO-TV in Des Moines told CNN, the ad costs hurt his station in the long run. Woods said his station can't get top dollar for the ads, so in the end they hurt the local economy.

Are those ads effective? WZZM-13's report on the subject said most people