Y2K Community Radio Project Proposal
Y2K COMMUNITY RADIO - AN UNPRECEDENTED OPPORTUNITY
by Tom Atlee
In conversations re: Y2K media, it is universally acknowledged that the
Net is the most flexible, speedy, cheap and dependable medium. However,
most people aren't on the Net. Most people I've talked to about this think
that the next best medium is talk radio. We need radio programs that raise
issues, share people's stories, provide know-how, and spread news that is
vital to Y2K community resilience activities.
We now have an immediate opportunity for a nationwide syndicated commercial
radio program dedicated to positive approaches to Y2K. It would explore
community preparedness and resilience, sustainability and transformation,
the Y2K-readiness of small/medium-sized businesses and nonprofits, and other
positive, socially conscious approaches to Y2K.
This opportunity could develop into something quite big, but initially it
would involve a one-hour interview program (or two half-hours) at a specific
time each week during the daily commute (prime-time radio). (We could recommend
potential interview guests, but the final choice would be up to Bonnie.)
The interview would be interspersed with ads from companies (such as Real
Goods, Utne Reader, The Permaculture Institute, etc.) whose products or
services support strong, sustainable community preparation, as well as PSAs
(public service announcements) providing facts, know-how or inspiration
about Y2K. The people running this program would also provide a dozen additional
weekly two-minute Y2K spots of our choosing at other prime times during
the week.
Y2K community groups could use this program as a source of Y2K news, inspiration
and know-how and to share stories about how Y2K affects their lives and
what they're doing with it. The program could provide local group members
with a shared experience of being part of a larger effort, a bigger community
of pro-social Y2K activists. Local groups urging their local stations to
carry this program could expand its reach to new locations, increasing its
ability to get the word out and to attract advertising, which would increase
people's knowledge of the products, services, and possibilities available
to them to succeed at their Y2K community work.
The internet could be incorporated by announcing the show's programming
and access locations; providing transcripts and real-audio records of the
programs; and linking listeners to sites that could expand their understanding
of subjects covered on the shows. Web sites, books, organizations and other
resources would be regularly featured and reported on the air.
All this is being offered to us right now by the "Seeing Beyond with
Bonnie Coleen" radio program. This vision grew out of a 3-hour series
of on-air interviews Bonnie Coleen did with me, covering all aspects of
Y2K. (Immediately after her first interview, the sales rank of AWAKENING
among all books on Amazon.com went from about 3000 to about 1500 -- a 50%
boost. In the following week there was a 10% rise in visits to the co-intelligence
website, and we broke 300 visitors in one day for the first time.)
Bonnie has been doing her "personal growth talk radio" show for
mainstream audiences for ten years. Although she has a long-term dedicated
audience in the San Francisco Bay area, her show is now syndicated in about
50 cities (see list at end of her proposal). Her current show reaches the
Bay Area during the 7-9 morning drive time -- and a national audience during
the 3-5 afternoon drive time and 11 am - 1 pm Sunday. Seeing Beyond also
has a Web page. Bonnie "gets" the potential of Y2K and is ready
to make her resources available to people trying to fulfill the POSITIVE
potentials. She just needs to do it viably, with some help from us. She
and her producer Deborah Bodine have written a specific proposal, which
I have attached below. They are doing everything possible to make this
vision a reality. (Deborah adds the tantalizing fact that their audience
"are great networkers; they get the word out to friends, family and
community.")
If all this worked out -- if the program actually served the needs of the
growing population of Y2K community workers and concerned citizens AND if
Y2K-active citizens, businesses and (as needed) philanthropists supported
the program with money, listenership and active engagement (such as call-ins)
-- such Y2K programming could expand step-by-step until it included the
entire 22 hours/week of the show's current contract. Until then, Bonnie
will be mentioning Y2K and the positive Y2K books, websites and activities
to the other guests she interviews, supported by her usual array of advertising.
There is tremendous potential synergy here. This is a great resource with
which to do the movement-weaving we so urgently need. Bonnie Coleen could
be for the Y2K community movement what Rush Limbaugh was for the Republican
Contract for America. Hopefully her efforts will be as well supported as
Limbaugh's were!
Bonnie's proposal asks for $23,400 for a three month trial contract. This
is dirt cheap by radio standards. This can be financed in any of a number
of ways, or some combination of them. We're doing something creative and
unusual here, so let's think outside the standard approaches to radio financing.
Here are some ideas:
a) Each week's six syndicated two-minute national ad slots could be bought
for $300 each ($150 for 1 minute, $75 for 30 seconds). These could be purchased
by companies selling products, by philanthropists with PSAs, or by local
community groups who want to make a point or disseminate information. The
rest of the ad slots would be free, their content generated by a volunteer
Y2K radio liaison group selected from among us (this, itself, would be an
interesting undertaking! Perhaps we should rotate the job...). We could
advise Deborah on prospective PAID advertisers, but she would take whomever
she could get. While this approach is certainly the simplest, it might
reduce the overall quality of the program. For example: There may well
be ads by multinationals proclaiming their own Y2K-compliance efforts --
which might not serve the programmatic vision we're trying to nurture.
However, such easy-to-get ads would support the programming without a lot
of special effort by those involved.
b) Foundation(s) and/or philanthropist(s) could donate the full amount
(or most of it), up front, as seed money. That would provide complete content
freedom for all the ad/PSA spots. It could also provide the time to organize
a group of the right kind of advertisers to take over paying for the ad
time without losing editorial freedom. (For anyone interested in this option:
Tax-deductible contributions payable to "The Co-Intelligence Institute"
can be sent to the 501[c][3] nonprofit Co-Intelligence Institute, 436 48th
Street, Oakland, CA 94609 -- marked for "The Y2K Radio Project."
Non-tax-deductible funds [e.g., for commercials] can be paid directly to
"Seeing Beyond," 230 Mount Hermon Rd., Suite 205, Scotts Valley,
CA 95066.)
c) Someone would volunteer, or be paid (by a foundation?), to find the
right advertisers. [If we add $1600 for such an ad solicitor to the $23,400,
we might want to raise for the ad air time, we get $25,000.]
d) Community groups could contribute money for the program start-up --
and possibly on a regular basis or in times of need -- to maintain or expand
the program. (Note that 100 community groups each raising about $250 would
cover the full costs of startup. In practice, smaller or poorer groups
would probably contribute much less than that, while larger or more wealthy
groups could afford more. And keep in mind that there are more groups forming
all the time, which would reduce the costs for everyone if we chose this
approach.) In this model, the ad/announcement content would also be created
by a volunteer Y2K Radio Liaison Group.
e) Community groups could buy ad time to promote their perspectives or
events, or to offer educational PSAs.
f) Businesses (especially socially-conscious ones like those in the Social
Ventures Network or Co-op America) could be asked to buy educational Y2K
public service announcements (PSAs) which would end with words like "this
announcement underwritten by Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream." Or they could
underwrite the actual interview programs, while the ad time would be free
to community groups. (The work of finding these underwriters would probably
have to be supplied by us, rather than done by Deborah Bodine, the program's
producer.)
g) Any other creative ideas?
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) Send us any ideas, contact references, etc., which you think might be
useful in this. This project will likely dovetail well with a number of
others.
2) Send pledges for project donations or Y2K ad/PSA purchases to The Co-Intelligence
Institute (cii@igc.org) or Seeing Beyond (SBBonnie@aol.com) (for mailing
addresses, see [b], above). From those pledges we can see how close we
are to the goal of $25,000 early in December, and plan accordingly.
3) Forward this message to others who might be interested, particularly
foundations and philanthropists, appropriate businesses, and Y2K community
groups.
4) Volunteer to be on the Y2K Radio Liaison Group that plans free Y2K educational
announcements -- or to be the Y2K ad sales person.
I am going out of town until December 2, 1998. I will not be able to pursue
this further until then. Bonnie and Deborah are very eager to move quickly
on this, and I share their urgency. If you can respond before December
2, that would be a great help. Please cc all your emails to Rosa Zubizarreta
rosalegria@igc.org, who will be tracking the progress of this project while
I'm gone.
Coheartedly,
Tom Atlee
_ _ _ _
PROPOSAL FOR A 'SEEING BEYOND' RADIO Y2K PILOT PROGRAM
Seeing Beyond is interested in being the primary Y2K radio source for the
Bay Area and across the country.
We want to offer resources, to network people and solutions, and to point
out the opportunities as well as the potential problems surrounding Y2K.
From ten years of past broadcasting experience, we know that our audience
is highly motivated and that they network with their friends, family and
community.
We see ourselves as a part of the information network that builds on the
Web Community and provides access to people who are not computer literate.
We will provide information and action items that our listeners will be
empowered to take to their communities.
Additional value
We will include information on our website about Y2K and add links to prominent
information sites.
We will include Y2K literature at all of our events.
Y2K will become part of the culture of the program and references will be
made to it during interviews that are on other subjects.
Interviews
We will actively pursue interviews with experts recommended by you during
the three month period proposed.
We will also include at least one interview per week covering Y2K issues
(1 hour per week).
Advertising
We will air pre-produced informational 2 minute ad spots on Y2K.
These spots will be played daily 6 days a week on our nationally syndicated
program and in the San Francisco Bay Area which is the 4th largest radio
market in the country.
Pricing
Value of the advertising and production costs
2 minute spot played during the local (SF) morning drive program: $160 per
play
2 minute spot played during the afternoon show or Sunday local: $100 per
play
2 minute spot played during the afternoon show or Sunday syndicated: $300
per play
Value per month of the advertising package we are offering you: $13,920
Production fee for a one hour program is $1000. 4 shows per month = $4,000
(this includes the hard cost paid to the station, and the syndicator fixed
expenses to Seeing Beyond)
Total cost of the entire package: $17,920 per month
(Note these costs are based on the lowest pricing available through Seeing
Beyond.)
What we are offering to you
2 minute spot played during the morning drive program: NO CHARGE
2 minute spot played during the afternoon show or Sunday local: NO CHARGE
2 minute spot played during the afternoon show or Sunday syndicated: $300
per play
1 hour per week interview time: NO CHARGE
Total cost to the Y2K project for a 3 month contract: $7,800 per month.
This package includes:
WEEKDAYS: Three 2-minute ads per day
Two of these will be played in the morning drive and
afternoon drive in San Francisco Bay area (the 4th largest
radio market in the country
One of these will be played on the syndication on the
afternoon program, nationally
WEEKENDS: Two 2-minute ads per day
One ad will be played on the local San Francisco station
One ad will be played on the syndicated portion of the show
INTERVIEWS
One hour per week
Contribution by Seeing Beyond to the Y2K project: $10,120 per month
Summary
Seeing Beyond offers a traditional commercial access to the radio waves.
We believe that the information is vital to get to the community and we
are interested in supporting your campaign to increase Y2K awareness.
Being a radio program we have a very limited number of ads to sell and limited
number of programs that we can air. As you can see from the proposal we
are willing to invest a considerable amount of our limited revenue producing
ad inventory and interview time to the Y2K agenda. The total cost of the
package is $17,920, we are asking $7,800 from you. The contribution by
Seeing Beyond is $10,120 per month.
We need the minimum fee of $7,800 per month, from either advertisers, underwriters
of the Y2K project or other entities in order to make this campaign possible
for us.
Seeing Beyond does not have the resources of staff to manage collecting
this $7,800 monthly fee from a variety of small contributors nor do we have
the resources to research who is on the cutting edge of Y2K awareness.
We would need the support of an outside person or group to handle these
details.
We recommend that this pilot project should, if possible, begin before the
end of the year. I hope that we are able to come to a meeting of the hearts,
minds and finances so that we can begin as soon as possible to participate
in the next step of the increasing public awareness of Y2K.
Yours truly
Bonnie Coleen
Host of Seeing Beyond
Deborah Bodine
Producer
PS: Here are the 51 stations that currently subscribe to our show on Sunday.
About 30 of them (specifics not yet available from the syndicator) subscribe
to the weekly show, as well. Among these markets are several leading Y2K
towns, such as San Francisco, Lubbock, Medford, and Spokane.
1) AL FOLEY WHEP 1K 1310
2) AL MONTGOMERY WACV 1K 1170
3) AL MOBILE WNTM 1K 710
4) AL FLORENCE WBCF 1K 1240
5) AR FT SMITH KWHN 5K 1320
6) AR PINE BLUFF KOTN 1K 1490
7) AR DUMAS KDDA 500W 1560
8) CA SAN FRANCISCO KBPA 5K 1220
9) CA CHICO KPAY 5K 1290
10) CA SANTA BARBARA KTMS 5K 990
11) CO ASPEN KNFO 2K 106.1
12) FL LEESBERG WQBQ 5K 1410
13) FL FT WALTON WFTW 2.5K 1260
14) FL DE LAND WXVQ 1K 1490
15) GA DOUGLAS WDMG 5K 860
16) ID IDAHO FALLS KID 5K 590
17) ID SAND POINT KSPT 1K 1400
18) IN EVANSVILLE WGBF 5K 1280
19) KS LIBERAL KSBC 1K 1270
20) KY PIKEVILLE WPKE 1K 1240
21) KY ELKHORN CITY WBPA 5K 1460
22) LA LAKE CHARLES KAOK 1K 1400
23) MI ADRIAN WABJ 1K 1490
24) MN BEMIDJI KKBJ 5K 1360
25) MN WORTHINGTON KWOA 1K 730
26) MO OSAGE BEACH KRMS 1K 1150
27) MT GREAT FALLS KQDI 1K 1450
28) NC ALBEMARLE WSPC 1K 1010
29) NC SATESVILLE WSIC 1K 1400
30) NC WILMINGTON WMFD 1K 630
31) NC GOLDSBORO WGBR 5K 1150
32) NV ELKO KTSN 1K 1340
33) NY HUDSON WHUC 1K 1230
34) OH E LIVERPOOL WOHI 1K 1490
35) OK BARLESVILLE KWON 1K 1400
36) OR COQUILLE KWRO 5K 630
37) OR MEDFORD KOPE 100K 103.5
38) OR BAKER CITY KBKR 1K 1490
39) OR LA GRANDE KLBM 1K 1450
40) SC FLORENCE WJMX 10K 970
41) TN MEMPHIS WMC 5K 790
42) TX LUBBOCK KYFO 5K 790
43) TX LUFKIN KRBA 1K 1340
44) TX AMARILLO KZRK 5K 1550
45) VA ORANGE WVCV 1K 1340
46) VA FRONT ROYAL WFTR 1K 1450
47) VA BRISTOL WXBQ 5K 980
48) WA ELLENSBURG KXLE 1K 1240
49) WA COLEFAX KMAX 1K 840
50) WA SPOKANE KJRB 5K 790
51) WV VIENNA WLTP 1K 1450