Getting A.C.O.R.N On The Air

Take a drive in your car and listen to various radio stations in your area. Choose two that you believe have good sound coverage and who you think might be interested in our kind of programming. News/talk stations and Christian stations have been most receptive to our A.C.O.R.N. programming, but do not limit your self to these alone.

Go to your first choice station and see the sales manager or account executive. Explain that you have a half hour nationally syndicated program that you would like to air on their station on a weekly basis. Radio time is sold more or less on a per listener basis. This air time cost varies directly in proportion to the radio station's ratings. Commercial radio also varies in cost by format, time of day (daypart), and by market size. If you are in a large city (i.e. NYC, LA, Chicago) you are in a major market (i.e. high cost), but Saturdays and Sundays (particularly Sunday mornings) which are the best times for this type of programming, are cheaper dayparts. In brief , in a major market you can expect higher than average market cost (over $84 dollars per half hour airing) but lower than average daypart and format cost (less than $150 dollars). If you can commit to a contract with some length (i.e. a year), mid market and small market areas should go down proportionally (approximately $60 - $80 per airing for mid and $25 - $60 dollars for small).

There are of course, always those priceless opportunities to place the program for free. Some programmers are actually looking for programming to fill up empty air time. Some programmers are Orthodox Christians wishing to propagate the faith. And some programmers truly appreciate the quality programming and will run it for its interest value alone.

A particularly valuable tool in negotiating air time cost with your local station is to point out to them who the Orthodox Christians are. Every radio station has a Federal Communications Commission mandate to program to minorities within their listening area and Greeks, Arabs, Russians etc. qualify as largely unadressed minorities. Explain that while the programming is produced by an essentially ethnic minority, it is produced with a distinctly American accent that is informative and certainly interesting enough to hold the listener's ear.

Near the end of each program just before the outro there is a sixty second music bed. This is the local spot for the sponsoring entity: your Church, Clergy Association, Business, or whomever pays the air time cost. In addition, just before and after each week's program, a minimum thirty seconds has been allotted for the same purpose. Your radio station should allow you to produce spots for these spaces at no charge and in addition should give you a number of free promos (either thirty or sixty seconds) during the week to advertise the program.

Once you have negotiated and reached agreement with your station, contact A.C.O.R.N. with all the information.

You may also want to check with some of the business owners in your parish who may do radio advertising. They can point you to the right person at a particular station and may also help with the negotiating process.

You can contact A.C.O.R.N at acorn@pernet.net , or at (409) 839-8224.