Listening4yourHealth—a Wellness Call to Action

Washington, DC, 2004

Public health experts estimate that more than 400,000 people in the United States die annually as a result of obesity, threatening to undo much of the progress made in the 20th Century with regard to chronic diseases. African-Americans are disproportionately impacted by this epidemic. Contributing culprits are sedentary lifestyles, poor eating habits and stress.

Listening4yourHealth—a Wellness Call to Action harnessed the airwaves of WPFW Pacifica Radio, encouraging and supporting listeners to exercise more, improve eating habits, and use techniques to manage stress. The campaign used the radio as a platform to reach the station's African American target audience in the District of Columbia. WPFW sparked a community-wide mobilization to tackle obesity in the metro DC area, working in partnership with the DC Department of Health's Maternal and Family Health Administration, the DC Department of Parks and Recreation's Sports, Fitness and Health Office, the Metro DC Community Health Consortium, the Gaston-Porter Health Improvement Center, and area health and fitness experts.

Twelve Movement Clubs form the centerpiece of WPFW's Listening4yourHealth campaign. The Movement Clubs involved on-air station personalities (Club "Captains") and community health and fitness professionals (Club "Coaches") in active grass-roots partnerships focusing on low-impact fun activities like R& B Hand Dance and Aerobics, Tai Chi set to Jazz, "Yoga in the Hood," and Salsa. Several clubs were aimed at people with limited mobility. Two walking clubs included "Walking the Red Road" led by Native American program host Jay Winter Nightwolf, and "Divas Out Walking" aimed at women, set to coincide with National Women's Health Week.

In April 2005, WPFW presented a live, on-location special broadcast event to kick-off Listening4yourHealth. The highly successful nine-hour remote broadcast was held at a popular community club and was attended by more than 700 people. Featuring a health fair, health screenings, and live demonstrations of various Movement Clubs, listeners were encouraged to attend the kick-off event and register for the Movement Clubs via an innovative on-air PSA campaign. More than 200 people signed up for one of the clubs. The live broadcast underscored WPFW's theme—"the music and the message"—featuring WPFW's very popular Saturday line-up of "oldies" and Rhythm & Blues, interspersed with health messages every 15 minutes.

WPFW highlighted the 12 Movement Clubs throughout its Spring 2005 pledge drive. The pledge drive's theme—"The 12 Days of Spring"—featured a Movement Club message for each of the 12 days.

Awards:

WPFW Round Four
$2,500 in additional funding received from DHHS's Office of Women's Health/Region 3 to support the Divas Out Walking Club