What's The Frequency?
In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) dropped the licensing requirement that each radio station run PSAs as a requirement for license renewal.
Without government diktat, one might think that would cut down on the opportunity for radio PSAs. But that hasn't turned out to be the case, according to a recent study of 50
randomly sampled radio PSA directors.
The study, conducted by News Generation, found that 100% of stations surveyed have PSA rotations. We'll take that with a large grain of salt since it's hard to get 100% of
anything. The survey also queried radio PSA directors on the PSA format they prefer, the amount of lead time they require to get a PSA into the rotation and the most important
quality in determining if a PSA will get into rotation.
Yet a debate is boiling in the PR industry about whether radio PSAs are worth the investment altogether.
"While some stations may use PSAs merely as overnight filler, in our experience, PSAs get aired throughout the day, not just in overnight day parts to fulfill their fiduciary
role as an involved corporate citizen," says Lynn Harris Medcalf, executive VP of News Generation.
She adds that many stations use PSAs as local cuts in national programming where there is no local advertiser.
However, Maury Tobin, President of Tobin Communications Inc., which provides Radio Media Tours, has a different take.
"In many situations, a radio PSA is the last thing that a PR pro should be considering when their clients real goal is to get their story and messages aired during the morning
and afternoon drive times," he says, "not in the middle of the night."