WCRB / WGBH Sale

[Dave Tomm]

Most underwriters nowadays  simply plug their name, services and most  
importantly, their websites.  There can't be a call to action in an  
underwriting announcement, but you can drive listeners to the website  
for more information....then hit them with the sales pitch.  Believe  
it or not, an underwriting only revenue generating vehicle could be a  
viable option for some commercial ventures in the future.  More and  
more listeners aren't putting up with 5-10 minute stopsets of  
screaming auto spots and "spackle or paste" ads anymore.  I could  
easily see certain adult skewing commercial stations (like talk or  
AAA) discontinuing spot sales and taking a underwriting-type approach  
to raising revenue.  It's better than losing those listeners to public  
radio and new media.

-Dave Tomm

On Sep 21, 2009, at 8:00 PM, Dan.Strassberg wrote:

> If you accept the thesis that, as far as a sponsor is concerned, an
> underwriting announcement is as useful as a commercial spot (and I'm
> sure that, for many advertisers, that is the case) and the
> underwriters are therefore willing to pay as much for an underwriting
> announcement as they pay for a spot of the same duration, it sounds to
> me as if going non-comm may be a no-brainer for non-profit
> organizations that acquire commercial stations. Commercial stations
> pay federal corporate income tax on the difference between their
> revenues (ad sales) and their expenses. In Mass, they also pay state
> corporate income tax. As I understand it, non-profit organizations pay
> neither tax. So if the revenues can really be the same for a given
> station that had been commercial and becomes a non-comm, the
> organization that owns the non-comm can pay out what it would have
> paid in income taxes as salary or bonuses to its management and/or
> talent and will wind up at the end of the fiscal year with the same
> number of $$$ in its kitty either way. And, of course, this little
> back-of-an-envelope analysis doesn't even try to account for the
> revenues the non-comm can derive from fuund raising.
>
> -----
> Dan Strassberg (dan.strassberg@att.net)
> eFax 1-707-215-6367
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Fybush" <scott@fybush.com>
> To: "Gary's Ice Cream" <gary@garysicecream.com>
> Cc: "Boston radio e-mail list" <boston-radio-interest@bostonradio.org>
> Sent: Monday, September 21, 2009 6:12 PM
> Subject: Re: WCRB / WGBH Sale
>>
>> And, honestly, given what's now allowed in underwriting
>> announcements, and given the weak ad market, it's hard for me to
>> imagine that they'd take in that much more in commercial ad revenue
>> than they'll get anyway in underwriting. It's not as though the
>> current WCRB sponsors will have a lot of other places to go to reach
>> that audience.
>