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Volume 7, Issue 2
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STATIONS ACROSS
THE COUNTRY HAVE PSA ROTATION, DESPITE NO FCC REQUIREMENT
TO DO SO
by Lynn Harris Medcalf
A new survey of 50 randomly sampled
radio PSA directors in the top-50 markets, finds that
100% of stations surveyed have public service announcement
rotation, with 78% having between one and ten PSA slots
to fill in a typical week. Thirty percent of stations
now use MP3s exclusively for the PSA content, with 46%
still requesting CDs. Twenty-four percent of stations
use exclusively copy and have their local on-air talent
voice the PSAs.
Public service announcements (PSAs)
are produced audio reports or written scripts, generally
running :15, :30 and :45 in length that are generated
for on-air use by radio stations and/or networks to
promote a specific social message aimed at increasing
public awareness or having listeners take action about
a particular issue. Through PSAs, organizations can
build and increase their image and stations can provide
important information regarding compelling social issues
to their audiences. Fifty randomly sampled stations
in the top-50 markets were interviewed in August of
2004.
In 1996, the FCC dropped the licensing
requirement that each station should provide substantial
evidence of public service as a requirement of renewal.
Despite the fact that stations are now not required
to prove how they serve the public good, many, if not
most stations, still provide public service content
to their listeners on a regular basis. In fact, 100%
of the stations surveyed said that to make it into rotation,
a public service announcement must address an issue
that is prevalent in their local community.

HEAT FROM FCC
FUELS FIRING ON RADIO
by Martha Sharan
As we continue our ongoing look
at the actions of the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC), we find that the organization is undergoing an
enforcement wave of its policies to protect consumers
and cracking down on broadcast companies and their programming.
Radio companies are being fined heavily for on-air content
considered unacceptable, obscene and offensive. In turn,
radio personalities are being fired with many companies
imposing "zero tolerance" policies.
With so much enforcement activity,
the state of some radio stations is one of fear. Companies
are afraid of losing licenses and DJs are censoring
themselves for fear of crossing the line and winding
up unemployed.
Here's the latest update on the
FCC's crusade against broadcast indecency:
-
August 12, 2004 — Emmis Communications agreed to
pay $300,000 to resolve indecency complaints the
FCC had been investigating
-
July 22, 2004 — Tommy Smith, longtime Little Rock
morning radio personality was fired by employer
Clear Channel Communications — "zero tolerance"
on radio indecency was the reason given
-
June 22, 2004 — By a 99-1 margin, the US Senate
approved an amendment that dramatically increases
a radio company's fines from $27,500 to $275,000
for a single indecency incident? and slaps an $11,000
fine on-air talent, for a maximum of $3 million
a day per on-air personality
-
June 9, 2004 — Clear Channel Communications paid
the U.S. Treasury $1.75 million for all indecency
charges and other general complaints by listeners
"
-
May 13, 2004 — Two Portland morning DJs, "Marconi"
and "Tiny" were fired for airing the audio portion
of the Nick Berg execution in Iraq adding musical
accompaniment and laughter to the horrific incident.
In fact, that last
incident has the FCC looking at broadening the term
"indecency" because technically airing the audio from
the Berg beheading the way the KNRK-FM morning show
did, doesn't fall under the FCC's definition of indecency
— "language or material that, in context, depicts or
describes, in terms patently offensive, as measured
by contemporary community standards, sexual or excretory
organs or activities." But, the FCC says, tougher enforcement
and stiffer fines, may have awakened the conscience
of the station's owner, Entercom Radio, to police itself
and take matters into its own hands, and that's the
result it hopes to have on other radio companies.
With the presidential
election in November, where do the candidates stand
on the issue of radio indecency?
President Bush supports
tougher fines. The FCC, under the Bush Administration,
has levied large fines against broadcast companies breaking
indecency laws.
Senator John Kerry
also supports tougher fines. As a member of the Sub-Committee
on Communications, he voted to toughen standards of
decency and punish stations, via fines or loss of license,
that don't abide by it.
So, it appears the
FCC has the green light to keep the pressure on and
continue to "clean up" an industry that some believe
has pushed beyond the boundaries of good taste into
indecent programming. Stay tuned for more updates in
future newsletters.

MAKING THE CASE
FOR EDUCATION
by Susan Matthews Apgood
Just two weeks after the American
Federation of Teachers' (AFT) annual conference in Washington,
D.C., delegates traveled to Boston for the Democratic
National Convention. Education has always been a critical
issue, especially during election time. So for the AFT
Convention, state presidents from the AFT reported back
to their states via radio interviews about the annual
salary survey released for the convention, then hit
the road for Boston.
The airwaves were still reverberating
from those first interviews, when just two weeks later,
a whole new round of interviews took place from Boston.
This time, the interviews matched Democratic delegates
and members of the AFT attending the convention with
local areas they represent in home states and cities
to discuss the Democratic Party's education proposals.
The delegates were pitched to stations
and networks in advance of the Democratic Convention
in Boston to discuss Senator John Kerry's education
proposal released on Monday, July 26, 2004. The outlined
plan fully funds the No Child Left Behind Act and recognizes
that teachers deserve respect, should be well and fairly
compensated, and need support from parents and communities
in doing the important work of educating our nation's
children.
A total of 30 interviews
were completed on the morning of Monday, July 26. There
were more than 11 and a half million listeners, and
there were a total of 5,724 airings of the interviews
on 3,926 stations and network affiliates across the
United States. Interviews were completed nationally
on Associated Press Broadcast, USA Radio Network and
statewide networks in Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Iowa,
Ohio Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, as well as top news
and news-talk stations in key markets.
The AFT represents
more than 1.3 million pre-K through 12th-grade teachers,
paraprofessionals and other school support employees,
higher education faculty, nurses and other healthcare
workers, and state and local government employees.

RADIO REACHES
OUT TO THE GROWING
HISPANIC AUDIENCE
by Lynn Harris Medcalf
During the 1990s, Hispanics became
the fastest growing minority in America. During that
time, the Latino suburban population grew 71 percent.
As many as 18 metro areas across the country have been
called "hypergrowth destinations." In each of these
18 locations, the Hispanic population grew by more than
300 percent—or twice the national Hispanic population
average—after 1980. Altogether, the combined Hispanic
population of all these metros jumped 505 percent between
1980 and 2000, making Hispanics 13 percent of the total
population.
Given the explosive growth of the
Hispanic population, radio has rushed to fill the need
for programming for Hispanics. With over 600 Spanish-language
stations and networks in the country, there is great
potential to reach the Hispanic population via radio.
According to Arbitron, "radio is a medium of steady
popularity among Hispanic Americans" with listenership
to every Spanish-language formatted station remaining
steady or rising over the past five years.
To reach out to Hispanic listeners,
there is information you can be armed with to ensure
the best possible results. The following are tips to
maximize your radio outreach to Hispanic radio:
-
If you have an English-language script that you
want to modify for the Hispanic population, always
have a native speaker translate the script. Doing
a direct translation via translation services or
worse, computer programs, will often not be sensitive
to cultural traditions or meanings. Having a native
speaker translate ensures that your message gets
to the Hispanic population in the most accurate
and meaningful way.
-
Ensure that pitching and follow up are completed
by a fluent Spanish speaker. This will ensure that
the stations fully understand the story and the
pitcher is able to explain the relevance to the
Hispanic community.
-
There are as many formats of Hispanic language
stations as there are English counterparts. Hispanic
stations, like all stations, are looking for stories
that are relevant to their audience so carefully
target your campaigns to the appropriate age and
demographic of listener you want within the Hispanic
market. A list of formats, is included on this website.
-
Be aware of trends in Hispanic radio and how your
story will fit in. Simply translating an English
script without providing context for the Hispanic
audience will often not yield the results you are
looking for. Use statistics that affect the Hispanic
audience specifically.
Be aware of trends in Hispanic radio and how your
story will fit in. Simply translating an English
script without providing context for the Hispanic
audience will often not yield the results you are
looking for. Use statistics that affect the Hispanic
audience specifically.
A member of News Generation media relations team,
"A combination of script and pitch customization , along
with knowledge of the radio station formats, their audience
demographic and their proportion of East and West Coast
listeners, pitched by a native Spanish speaking person
can truly make the difference in effective communication
to the Hispanic population in the US."
The states with the
largest number of Spanish Language Stations include:
1. Texas 167; 2. California 159; 3. Florida 51; 4. Arizona
26; 5. New Mexico 22; 6. North Carolina 20; 7. Washington
18; 8. New York 17; 9. Tennessee 14; and 10. Georgia
14.
For more information
on how popular and dynamic Hispanic radio listening
is, please visit Arbitron's study at www.arbitron.com/downloads/hispanicradiotoday04.pdf.

THE POLITICS OF
POLITICS
by Curt Gill
With the pending presidential elections,
the political climate has been raised dramatically in
the country, but what political stories are being heard
on radio? Radio stations are apt to discuss policy with
groups who might have political objectives, as long
as there is a strong local tie to their state and issues
affecting their listener. Issues concerning the status
of our schools and students, concerns over prescription
drug costs and stories about the ongoing conflict in
Iraq have all played very well since they speak to issues
that affect listeners in their daily lives.
Radio stations recognize that their
listeners are directly affected by these topics regardless
of the parties affiliated with the source. Viable data
that directly relates to a specific area and population
will provide the best avenues to get your message on
the air.
The challenges in pitching that
we have encountered involve the more controversial or
political topics that may not always have a local connection.
To help our clients in developing a story with a politically
affiliated message, there are a few simple guidelines
that will help craft your message:
-
How do I determine if my politically related story
will play on radio? Take a look at the content of
the story. The story should address issues important
to listeners in the audience. Stories occurring
thousands of miles away do not always generate this
type of response, but local schools and the varying
viewpoints on the best interests of the students
will score every time.
-
How do I hone my story to make it more attractive
to radio stations? The most important point is to
localize the story as much as possible. If the story
can be refined with localized stats, even on a statewide
level, this helps dramatically. In lieu of that,
a local spokesperson can really help. If the story
is concerning a topic that is happening on a national
level, find a spokesperson who can address the topic
on a local stage and is willing to support that
topic locally. "If it can happen there, it can happen
here."
-
How do I present a story without a perceived political
bias? Let the facts speak for themselves. Try not
to appear to be presenting an opinion piece, but
instead provide information that does not need to
be affiliated with any political group, like statistics
and survey data. The focus should remain on the
story itself and not the group supporting it. It
is much easier to win that coveted air space with
a pocketful of raw data supporting an argument.
Keep it simple. Make
sure that if you are going to have a topic that is politically
charged, you have facts to support your argument and
that the facts have a local connection when possible.
Reporters are no different than any other average hard
working American. They want to know how the information
being provided is going impact them or their families.

Tuning In newsletter is produced and distributed bi-annually. The goal of the newsletter is to educate clients on radio trends and industry tips, as well as highlight case studies and release survey information.
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