Make the Most of Public Service Announcements

Did you know there used to be an FCC requirement that TV and radio stations allocate a certain amount of time to public service? Since deregulation, that requirement is no longer as clearly enforced, and stations can essentially set their own standards on what constitutes the fulfillment of their public service programming responsibilities.

According to PSA Research, stations generally adhere to the former code of the National Association of Broadcasters: "Requests for time and placement of public service announcements or programs should be carefully reviewed with respect to the character and reputation of the group, the campaign or organization involved, the public interest content of the message, and the manner of presentation."

During the two months of monitoring of the Jeff Gordon PSA, the BSA reached an audience of 8.9 million through the 500 TV stations that received the release through our national distribution. This figure does not include PSAs provided to local media by councils.

I know you are thinking, "But the PSAs only air in the wee hours of the morning."

Actually, the Boston Minuteman Council has had great success in getting PSAs aired with 94 percent of the Jeff Gordon Race to Cub Scouting PSAs running between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

"It is all about relationship building," said Kathy Plazak, council vice president of marketing. "We delivered popcorn to the station as an expression of appreciation. And we have asked for periodic reports on PSA placement, so they know that run time matters to us."

"Also, we worked with our Clear Channel affiliates," said Jet Tiraphatna, council marketing director. "Because of [Clear Channel CEO] Mark Mays' leadership, the PSAs that Clear Channel ran were already under way for several weeks before we met with them, and the spots seemed to be spread throughout the day. However, we have worked to strengthen the Clear ChannelBoy Scout relationship locally, and that has certainly helped. They could easily give this program lip service because it came down from corporate, but we wanted to let them know how meaningful it was to us locally. We met with them to brief them on local Scouting programs, let them know that we care about the program and appreciate their help. We have asked them to do some additional promotion for us, such as having a broadcast truck at Scouting events, involving them even further with the Scouts."

Clear Channel Communications CEO Requests Airing of PSAs

Mark Mays, CEO of Clear Channel Communications and BSA national marketing chairman, recently sent a letter to each of his radio station general managers across the country asking them to play our current PSAs. The following information was shared with your Scout executive earlier this year.

The statistics on Clear Channel media outlets are as follows:

Mays' letter reflects his total commitment to the values of Scouting and the impact we make in service across the country.

In his letter, Mays asked his general managers to contact your council. This is a great opportunity to reach out to your local Clear Channel general managers to thank them for providing this support. Also, consider additional ways to leverage this "door opener" with your local Clear Channel stations:

The Marketing & Communications Division is working with Mays and his staff to build on this relationship in 2006. We need your support by following through locally so he and his team receive the positive feedback they deserve for this gracious effort.


The Merits of Marketing (marketing.scouting.org) is a resource for local councils, developed by the Marketing & Communications Division of the National Council, Boy Scouts of America.