Underwriting
Would you like your business name and information to reach people all around Prince William Sound and the Copper River Valley? If so, consider donating to KCHU.
KCHU is the only 501 (c)(3) community supported radio station for Prince William Sound and the Copper River Valley. Our listeners are spread throughout a vast listening area of 58,000 square miles.
As the only AM transmitting station in Valdez, your message reaches beyond the shores of Valdez, Cordova, Tatitlek, Chenega Bay, Whittier, Glennallen and McCarthy to the many vessels in Prince William Sound.
Visitors have access to our broadcast from just across the Canadian border, from Valdez nearly to Fairbanks on the Richardson Highway and many miles down the Glenn.
What’s in It for You?
According to NPR studies, 80% of listeners agree that their opinion of a company is more positive when they discover it supports public radio and other non-profits.
Boost Your Visibility
Underwriting provides you with a high profile among KCHUs loyal, engaged, and well-informed audience.
Strengthen Your Image
Demonstrate your association with and support of KCHU’s commitment to the community, education, and public service.
Improve Your Bottom Line
Underwriting is a smart, cost-efficient, and effective use of marketing and public relations dollars.
Extend Your Reach
With three repeater stations and four translators, KCHU’s 45,000 square mile range is the largest in the region.
Get Your Message Across
Your announcement will be heard in an uncluttered media environment. Public radio listeners appreciate the non-commercial language and are less likely to tune out than commercial radio audiences. The reputation of public broadcasting sets your message apart with an audience that expects quality programming and services.
Types of Underwriting
General
A 15 second spot with a maximum of 40 words voiced by one of our professional staff. The spot will air run of schedule throughout our programming.
Program-Specific
A 15 second spot in support of a certain program or time. This enables you to target demographics. Fans of a sponsored program identify your business favorably as a supporter of content they love!
FCC Guidelines
Federal broadcasting standards require that underwriting announcements must exist to identify, but not promote, a sponsor’s business or organization.
Announcements may not include the following:
- Calls to Action. “call, stop by, invite, join, come” or phrases prompting action
- References to Price. “free, on sale…” or the actual price
- Superlatives. “best, greatest, most reliable, more…” or other qualitative descriptors
- Inducements to buy, rent, sell, or lease, like “discounts, complementary…”)
- Comparative Language however factual, like “award-winning, board-certified, top rated…”
- Adjectives. “cozy, stellar, lovely, happy…”
Why Underwriting Is Not Advertising
What's the difference between underwriting and advertising?
Underwriting is not advertising because no prices are listed. No comparisons to other businesses and products (including superlatives like ‘best’, biggest’ or newest’) or their prices are included. No ‘calls to action’ such as ‘buy now’ or ‘come see our…’ or anything else that asks people to do something are included. Imagine an ad that has none of that. Underwriting is about businesses supporting public broadcasting, not about public broadcasting selling them the chance to promote their businesses.
What's wrong with advertising?
There’s nothing wrong with advertising. It’s how for-profit media, radio, TV and newspapers, make their money. Even if it’s something the user pays a subscription for, most of the time, the majority of expenses are paid by advertising revenues.
To use an old-fashioned comparison, newspaper subscriptions don’t pay for anything but delivering your paper. The cost of running it and printing it and every other cost involved, is paid for by advertising. Without them, there’d be no paper.
Why doesn't KCHU sell advertising?
The short answer is because we’re not allowed to—but there’s a reason for that.
The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a nonprofit itself, includes this as a requirement in their grants, which are a major portion of any public broadcaster’s budget. Also, 501(c)3** Nonprofits are not permitted to promote for profit businesses. That’s an Internal Revenue Service rule.
The reason for not taking money to promote for profit businesses is that it helps to ensure that advertisers are not influencing programming decisions. Public broadcasting is meant to be run by its membership, not it’s underwriters.
We’re not actually allowed to sell anything. Whatever your public radio station gives you, premiums, underwriting spots, etc. is a token, a gift to you for showing your support. To qualify, the monetary value of whatever it is has to be less (usually a lot less) than the amount donated. This includes underwriting.