THE GIVING MONTH Greg Diamond – ByrnesMedia December is the "Giving" month. Are you giving enough? Are you giving at all? Are you participating willingly or doing it because you have to?
Great radio stations do public service initiatives that go over the top and as I write this I’m impressed by some recent examples of our power as a medium.
In Calgary, Country 105 ran their 5th Annual Cares for Kids Radiothon that raised over $1.6 million for the Alberta Children’s Hospital in only three days - impressive, to say the least.
Across town at CJAY 92, Morning Host, Gerry Forbes, encouraged businesses to show their support for the Armed Forces by offering a 15% reduction when selling to veterans, plus men and women currently in uniform. To date, the number of businesses signed up totals over 200 (with more being added daily) with discounts now being offered on everything from cars to cappuccino!
These are just two of the hundreds of such projects that radio embarks upon annually and if we think back to the Asian tsunami we can be very proud of our effectiveness in times of immediate, singular crisis.
Successful public service needs to come from a ‘different place’ than most of our other promotional activities. If the driving force is the station’s bottom line, then there’s a very good chance you won’t create the ‘magic’ that other truly successful initiatives possess. There is certainly nothing wrong with marrying a sound fundraising idea with a revenue-generating opportunity, but service to the public should normally take the lead.
I have been fortunate in my career to have worked at a station where public service was held in as high esteem as the station’s budget and both were concentrated on to mutual success. The goodwill of the staff was reciprocated by the community in both its listeners and clients. That was by no means the primary motivating factor, since the desire was to simply “do the right thing”, but the ancillary benefits were clearly evident and progressive.
Another fairly obvious factor that’s necessary for success is staff involvement. Here again, though, the purpose of the public service will or will not determine motivated participation. If staff members are to “buy in”, then they need to clearly see the possible effects on the common good that is well in excess of any potential revenue prospect. It is true that as employees, mandated involvement (within reason) can be instituted, yet such plans are often self-defeating with regards to overall staff morale and are likely to go against the grain of what could otherwise be a very galvanizing activity. In short, build it for the right reasons and they will come.
One unfortunate downside for stations that perform ongoing public service is lack of recognition for their deeds. It seems the more a station does, the less likely they are to generate the interest of other media, and therefore the community at large. While we really shouldn’t be expecting to get our backs patted for our successes, the fact is we earned the right to be noticed, so don’t be shy about flooding the area with releases, but if you wait until after the fact then your accomplishment stands a much greater chance of being overlooked. Get the media aware and onboard well beforehand and, if the avenue exists, don’t be afraid to partner with them. Your success will not be diminished by having another entity involved – in fact, the opposite is more likely.
I encourage you to get involved this holiday season and give. |