As Sponsorship Sales Blossom, Public Radio Walks a Fine Line

AS SPONSORSHIP SALES BLOSSOM, PUBLIC RADIO WALKS A FINE LINE
[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Sarah McBride sarah.mcbride@wsj.com]
As much of the media industry languishes in an advertising slump, public radio is on a tear, scooping up new sponsorship by mimicking the tactics of commercial broadcasters. On offer is public radio's coveted, gold-plated audience. But the increase in corporate messages is a delicate marketing strategy, since many of those prized listeners gravitated to public stations looking for the exact opposite: an escape from advertising's constant hum. Public radio started becoming more professional about sponsorship sales as its federal funding came under threat. Local stations have recruited ad sales executives from commercial-radio giants such as Clear Channel Communications Inc., replacing grant-writing types. More on-air sponsorships are now weaved into programming breaks rather than lumped at the end of each show. And more minutes per hour are now given over to these announcements, a sweetener for all concerned because such underwriting is tax-deductible. Touting their relatively wealthy and educated audiences, public-radio stations now count 18% of their revenue from businesses, compared with 11% from the federal government, according to Tom Thomas, co-chief executive of Station Resource Group, a public-radio consulting firm. That's a big change from 1980, when almost a third of public-radio stations' funding came from the federal level and just 8% from businesses. Public-radio executives are aware of the fine line they must tread. They don't even call it advertising -- to them, it's "sponsorship" or "underwriting." Listeners "are very resistant to being sold anything," says Kevin Klose, president and chief executive of National Public Radio Inc. "That's not what they come to public radio for." Mr. Klose says the line is hard to spot, but thinks NPR hasn't crossed it.
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