PSAs

[Donna Halper]

A professor friend of mine who hasn't been in radio in years asked me 
about Public Service announcements.  She was curious about whether 
since deregulation stations are still required to air them.  Mostly, 
she has heard them on stations with low ratings, or stations where 
there seemed to be some avails because all of the commercial time 
wasn't sold.  But let me ask those of you who are PDs or 
announcers:   even if you are sold out, do you still try to fit in a 
certain number of PSAs?  If so, are there organizations you prefer to 
use, or is it a matter of whatever got sent to you that week?  I know 
anecdotally that stations in Boston seem to air fewer PSAs than they 
did when I was on the air.  And unlike the local PSAs we used to air, 
many of the ones I hear on radio these days seem to come from 
national organizations (United Way, Big Brothers, American Cancer Society, etc).