Tips for Collaborating with Public Radio Stations

Many community organizations have established productive relationships with their local public radio stations. These stations can be important collaborators, reaching listeners with high-quality reporting.

You may be interested in partnering with public radio stations to promote community events, or would like to have the station produce news reports or public service announcements about your organization.

The public radio system comprises approximately 450 stations serving their local communities. Approximately two-thirds of these stations are owned or licensed by universities and colleges. Others are licensed by nonprofit organizations, local or state governments. Public radio formats vary from station to station, ranging from news and information, to classical, jazz, or eclectic programming.

Your success in collaborating with public radio stations depends on a number of variables. When working with the media, there are two important questions to consider: first, whether you have a good idea; and second, the extent to which you can make the case that your organization's concern will matter to the station, to its listeners and to the community at large.

The following tips will help you build a successful collaboration:

Establish a Relationship

• The more you know about the station, the greater the likelihood that you will be successful in your effort. If you do not already have a relationship with station staff, you will want to research station personnel. Obtain program guides or review the station's Web site so that you know as much about the station's operation as possible.

• Build relationships with the appropriate staff. Identify the key person(s) who has the authority to make your proposal a reality. If you don't know the key person, you may know others who already have established relationships. Ask them to help introduce you to the right station personnel.

• Before you pitch your proposal, meet with key staff in order to understand their needs. Your first meeting can take place either at the station, or at a public space such as the local library. As an alternative, invite station staff to meet with you for lunch.

• Provide information about your organization. Assemble a packet of information including mission, the population you serve and other relevant information. You may want to include an annual report and other public relations material. Invite key station staff to visit your organization or attend events that you sponsor to help familiarize them with your operation.
  

Pitch Your Idea

• State your goal and be very clear about what you would like from the station. Some questions you may want to ask are:
  
  • What has the station done in the past that relates to the kinds of activities you would like to do with them?
    
  • Who initiated the ideas?
    
  • How well did they meet their goals? What worked well and what could have been improved?
    
  
  
• Be clear about the resources needed to make your proposal successful. Resources at stations are usually limited, so success will be dependent on your ability to provide as many resources as possible.

Collaborate on the Plan

• Be very explicit about the expectations of your organization, the station, and especially about the role of key personnel. Remember that the clearer things are when starting a collaborative project, the greater the likelihood for success.

• Devise a timeline that will provide a good sense of major benchmarks during the implementation of the effort. You will want to track the project and stay in touch with the station as the project evolves. In addition, you will also want to build in some type of measurability for your project, i.e., what you expect will happen because of your efforts and how successful you were in meeting those goals.
  

Building relationships takes time and isn't always successful on the first try. Your idea may not work for now, and persistence may be in order. If your idea doesn't work on your first try, ask the station if you can set up another time to discuss a partnership. The time you invest towards building a relationship will pay off.

Build Trust
If the work you would like to do with the station involves ongoing collaboration, much work is required to develop trust, which is the foundation of a strong partnership. Following is a short checklist of the qualities found in successful broadcaster-community partnerships.

• Shared vision. Partners are committed to the same measurable outcomes.

• Complementary strengths. Each partner brings specific skills and expertise to the project.

• Willingness to collaborate. Each partner contributes resources that reflect its strengths.

• Agreed-upon boundaries. Each partner understands the limits of its role in the project.

Put Yourself in Their Shoes
For you to successfully pitch a partnership with the station, you will want to think as if you were the contact person at the station. Following are some rationales describing why a station may want to engage in an outreach collaboration with your organization.*

• To position and promote the station as an active force that contributes to and is concerned about the well-being of the community.

• To develop projects and implement activities that will affect positive change in the community.

• To provide "packaging" for funders around local and national programming.

• To provide a database of outcomes from station projects that the general manager can use when seeking government funding.

• To provide information about the station's community impact for use by those organizations that advocate on behalf of public radio on Capitol Hill.

• To develop new sources of funding and support for special projects and programs.

• To forge new alliances and act as a neutral catalyst to unite community groups around a common goal.

• To involve and support special-interest audiences.

• To give the station a more human image, rather than an institutional one.

• To be part of a national project along with other public stations, and to network with other station personnel.

• To gain recognition for the station in the form of awards and commendations from community, state, and national groups.

• To develop a "local edge" over competitive commercial radio.

• To highlight and extend outstanding national public radio programming.

• To extend the mission of public radio, which is in part to educate, entertain, and inform.

• To heighten local awareness that public radio has the power to affect positive change.

• To position public stations as "giving back" to the community, rather than just taking and/or asking for help.

• To provide opportunities for public education.

• To generate more volunteers.

• To promote staff teamwork around specific programming.

• To promote listenership of station programming.

• To enjoy the internal and external rewards and recognition for a job well done.
  *Adapted from material provided by the Public Television Outreach Alliance
  

A number of public radio stations have partnered with organizations to create better ways to help re-engage people in their communities. This approach, known as "civic journalism," helps media to foster conversation and debate in communities. It uses the media as an active member rather than one that only provides information in a one-way process.