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Contact Information:
FunRadio 95.7FM
WERF-LP
Phone (352) 577-9373
Fax 352-380-0230
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Underwriting FunRadio helps your business!
If you own or manage a business in our community, you may have been
approached by salespeople from the local commercial radio stations to
buy advertising. Commercial stations are focused on regional coverage
and their efforts to gather the most listeners from Gainesville, Ocala
and the surrounding counties where their signals reach. While many
larger business, especially those with outlets in several cities, can
afford to advertise on the big commercial stations, a small businesses
simply cannot afford to spend the enormous sums of money necessary to
put together an effective advertising campaign. That's where we can
help! The cost to underwrite WERF is tiny compared to the big guys. You
reach your target audience without the high cost of advertising to
people that wouldn't usually shop at your business. Because our costs
are so low, every small business can afford to have their underwriting
announcements aired on WERF.
WERF also broadcasts Gainesville area high school sports.
Businesses and individuals can choose to underwrite the broadcasts of
individual games or a whole season. More
information is available here.
We
don't air commercials...
it's an Underwriting Acknowledgment!
What is the difference between a
commercial and an underwriting announcement?
Most of you are familiar with the underwriting messages that open and
close most PBS programs. These non-commercial commercials are known as
"enhanced underwriting." Sometimes, they are "very enhanced." They look
like commercials, they sound like commercials ... but legally, they
aren't commercials. Why? Watch carefully the next time you see one of
these messages on PBS. They tell you about a product or a company, but
they don't tell you to buy anything the company makes or offers.
An underwriting message must stop short of telling the viewer or
listener to take some form of action. It may also not be overtly
promotional. That means that we cannot entice customers to buy products
at your once-in-a-lifetime sales event. What we can do is tell them who
you are and what you sell and why your business is unique.
An
Example
...
To better understand how underwriting works, let's invent a business:
Big Fish Real Estate, Inc. The nice folks at Big Fish wish to support
their community radio station. They would also like to let the
residents on the lake know that they are good neighbors, a company that
cares about the community. They would like to have their underwriting
support acknowledged. It's a reasonable request.
Every now and then during our broadcast day, we will take time out to
acknowledge those who are making public service community radio
possible in our area. Acknowledgements will sound something like this:
"Portions of WERF's broadcast day are underwritten by ..." This will be
the standard lead-in. A brief series of acknowledgments will follow.
This might be Big Fish's message : " ... "Big Fish Real Estate, Inc.,
has served the real estate needs of the Our Area since 1492. Big Fish
Realty is a full service realty and brokerage firm for residential,
business, and industrial real estate sales. Big Fish is located at 120
East Main Street, somewhere in OurTown and is proud to support FunRadio
95.7. Their phone number is 555-4444."
The message is a proper underwriting acknowledgment in that it doesn't
tell you to do anything. It doesn't suggest you "stop by" 120 East Main
Street, it doesn't tell you to call them if you wish to buy a home. It
doesn't tell you to "be the first on your block..." In short, there is
no "call to action."
The FCC frowns on non-commercial radio stations that air commercials.
And the FCC's frowns often come with hefty fines attached. Stations can
also lose their licenses or have them suspended. WERF will strictly
follow the letter and the spirit of the law when it comes to
underwriting messages.
Underwriting messages, however, do more than simply acknowledge the
support of a business or organization, they provide information many
listeners will likely find useful. It's helpful to listeners, for
instance, for a restaurant to include its hours of operation and
location. Or what type of food is served.
Proper
underwriting not only helps keep us on the air, but it is also very
beneficial to the sponsor. We can help keep the your business name in
the forefront of our listeners minds, while you have the satisfaction
of knowing you are contributing to something that makes life in our
area very unique. You also have an opportunity to get your business on
the air at a cost that won't hurt. It is a win-win situation. We have
underwriting plans for as little as $100 per month, but nothing is set
in stone. We are still experimenting with the concept and have a great
deal of flexibility. Call us for specific details at (352)
577-9373.
We want long term relationships with great sponsors. We do not want to
clutter up our broadcast day with an overabundance of underwriting
announcements. We also want your announcement to stand out. The goal is
to be a great community station that does not sound like your average
commercial station with 30 minutes of spots every hour.
Not all of those helping to underwrite WERF's operating costs may
choose to have their support acknowledged. If that is your wish, it
will be respected.
WERF-LP is a non-commercial, non-profit
community radio station that relies on the support of the community it
serves to stay on the air. This support may come in many forms. People
can volunteer to help out at the station. You could help by organizing
or attending fundraisers. Maybe you'd even be willing to organize some
of these activities. Most of the station's financial support, however,
will come from individuals, groups and businesses in the form of
underwriting the daily operations of WERF.
How to help!
If you are interested in helping to support WERF's public
service community broadcasting, especially the vital job of
underwriting the work needed to keep the station on the air - Please
contact us now. Perhaps you are a specialist in some of the many areas
that could be of help, including sales and grant writing. Maybe your
company would be interested in helping to sponsor FunRadio. You can
send an
,
or you can reach us by phone at (352) 577-9373. We look forward
to hearing from you.
Privacy Statement:
All donations, contributions and other help are kept confidential,
unless you desire otherwise. With your permission, we would like to
acknowledge you on the air, but we will not make public the amount of
your contribution, be it large or small. Most importantly, we will
never sell or share your name, address or any other vital information.
We respect your privacy. That's a promise.
Broadcast
the
news about your community event.
If you or your non profit organization, like a church,
club, civic group, Boy/Girl Scouts, school or the ladies knitting
society is having an event that your neighbors need to know about, tell
us, and we'll give you on air publicity. It's free! Just
,
to tell us about your event. You can also call us at (352) 577-9373
or Fax the information to 352-380-0230.
The funds generated from sponsorship
announcements are what keeps FunRadio on the air. We can't do
this without you. Your support is essential.
Click Here to find out more
about underwriting opportunities or
call our Business Office at (352) 577-9373, or just
.
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We're your spot on the dial for great music &
interesting programs!
FunRadio 957 is
WERF-LP. We are licensed by the Federal Communications Commission
WERF-LP also pays music licensing fees to the following organizations:
 
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All Rights Reserved, 2007 - 2011. WERF Radio
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