- prepared 15 June 1997 // jkm
- revised 27 Aug 08 ... 18 Sep 97 & 18 Jul 97
INTRODUCTION - "Learning as We go"
POLICY:
What we DO provide:
What we DO NOT provide:
Intended Commercial Sponsors:
PROCEDURE:
PRACTICE: in formulation.
EXAMPLE COPY:
Explanation of Jargon Terms Used in this Document:
INTRODUCTION - "Learning as We go"
Caveat
As we plunge into this new initiative is is crucial to follow the policy
and practices outlined below. If sponsors sign up thinking they are
getting one thing when our policies state another, we are undermining Trent
Radio's fundamental character and nature.
Who do we think we are?
We are not a radio station in the common, commercial sense of the term.
It is understandable that there may be some confusion for a local business
person in understanding their role as a sponsor, rather than an
advertiser. In our operation these terms are utterly opposed.
At Trent Radio the Programming function must be completely independent of
a Sponsor's interests. It is not at odds, however programming is
sovereign.
We hope what we do is the perfect opposite of a commercial radio station
which manufactures an audience, according to the needs of their
advertisers.
This what makes us distinct.
Because Trent Radio is "radio" and there are few other similar "radio"
models which our sponsors would be familiar, our first job is to tutor
ourselves, then our clients, about Trent Radio's aspirations as a community
broadcaster and their partnership with us.
We manufacture "community" rather than listenership.
This is strange talk for folks who've never heard it before, and it *is*
the fundamental aim of Trent Radio since it was incorporated 20 years ago
to start the process of obtaining a broadcast licence of our own.
POLICY:
Pursuant to;
Trent Radio Board of Directors resolution April 1996, and,
An Agreement with Power Broadcasting & its successor Corus Entertainment
for the use of the CHEX TV tower, and
Trent Radio's Licence granted by the CRTC, and
CRTC Public Notice 1993-38 - 19 Apr 1993, and,
CRTC Public Notice 1983-43 - 03 MAR 1983.
Quantity & Nature:
Trent Radio may broadcast a maximum 252 minutes of sponsorship per
broadcast week with a maximum of 2 minutes of sponsorship in any hour.
"Acknowledgments of Support" must conform to the CRTC (PN 1983-43)
definition of restricted advertising:
Restricted advertising means simple statements of sponsorship
which identify the sponsors of a program or of the station.
Simple statements shall be of a "live copy" nature and may NOT
be dramatisations nor include music or sound effects.
Such statements shall incorporate the names of the sponsor
(business name and the owners' name), and may include the
business address, hours of business, and a brief general
description of the types of services or products which the
sponsor provides, including the price, name and brand name of
the product.
Such statements must NOT contain language which attempts to
persuade consumers to purchase and thus must not contain
references to convenience, durability or desirability or
contain other comparative or competitive references.
NOTE: Publicity for NOT-FOR-PROFIT entities paid or otherwise NEED NOT
CONFORM to the definition of "restricted advertising" in the area of
production, dramatisation, music and sound effect, so long as the total
time devoted to messages of sponsorship does not exceed 126 minutes per
broadcast week or 2 minutes per hour.
The broadcast week is defined as 126 hours falling between the eighteen
hour period of 6am and Midnight, seven days a week. (18hrs x 7days = 126hrs)
While the CRTC permits up to 504 minutes of advertising with 126 minutes
of unrestricted advertising, our agreement with Power Broadcasting limits
us to
- Acknowledgments of Support rather than Advertising
- 252 minutes of total sponsorship per week (2mins/hour)
- live copy messages without references to price.
What we DO provide:
A 30" ACKNOWLEDGMENT of their support of Trent Radio, of not less
that one per week for the entire BROADCAST SEASON, showing their
association with "the coolest kind of community radio there is
going."
Along with the above, a SPONSOR IDENTIFICATION of who they are, what
they do, how they do it, when they do it, where they do it, and what or
who (CO-OP SPONSORSHIP) they do it with.
These messages shall be of a LIVE COPY NATURE, conforming with the CRTC
definition of "restricted advertising", and be in accord with our
agreement with Power Broadcasting and Trent Radio's Sponsorship Policy.
Their sponsorship messages shall be aired on a RUN_OF_STATION basis in a
BACK-to-BACK, SPONSORSHIP CLUSTER and be scheduled to provide a
VERTICAL ROTATION for their message. This shall be done by the
Programmer Director or the person so designated without interference or
favouritism for a particular Sponsor or group of Sponsors.
Sponsorships shall be arranged UP FRONT with a cash
payment. Cheques must clear before messages air.
Definition of Terms of what WE DO.
What we DO NOT provide:
We do NOT sell sponsors ANY of the following;
a Guaranteed Position
a Preferred Position
a Fixed Position
a Adjacency Position
a Participation Position
or a Casual Spot
Definition of Terms of what WE DO NOT DO.
Intended Commercial Sponsors: It is Trent Radio's
aim to solicit sponsorship from a DIVERSE group of LOCALLY owned and/or
operated SMALL businesses owners, who shall be invited to show their
community support through their support of Trent Radio.
The execution of this Sponsorship Initiative so as to be of benefit to
Trent Radio, its programmers local business and the community as a whole.
This means that;
a) Trent Radio is NOT in competition with commercial media for Advertising
revenues;
b) For-profit Sponsors' messages shall indicate their support of Trent
Radio and the community, rather than their specific goods and services.
c) Sponsor's shall not influence ANY programming decisions.
PROCEDURE:
The Sponsorship Director shall be charged with all solicitation,
invoicing, collection, production and preparation of all
sponsorship material, subject to the approvals cited below.
All messages and contracts shall be approved of the General
Manager.
Sponsorships for specific programmes must be approved by the
Programme, the Programme Director in addition to the General
manager.
Scheduling shall be made on a "run of station" basis by the
Programme Director. Sponsorships shall be separately clustered
between programmes or between programme segments. Sponsors
cannot be guaranteed specific broadcast times.
The Sponsorship Director shall encourage potential clients to
participate as "season sponsors" which shall provide for
weekly messages as a multiple of the number weeks in a given
season. For example, on average there are 15 weeks to a season.
A season sponsor would buy two or more announcements per
week.
PRACTICE: in formulation.
The Sponsorship Director shall provide the General Manager sales
agreements which include "air ready" copy and payment in
advance.
This will include an email indicating
a) The Sale Receipt Number
b) The Name, Contact Name, Address and Phone Number of the
Sponsor.
c) The number of announcements to be aired and when.
d) The announcement script.
The Sponsorship Director shall deliver the payment with the
sales receipt to the General Manager.
Upon approval by the General Manager, the Sponsorship Director
shall prepare a tape for broadcast, and shall email list of
messages to to aired to the Programme Director for scheduling
with a copy to the General Manager. This shall be done by Noon
on the Thursday preceding the week the messages are scheduled
to air.
Operators shall ensure that the scheduled announcements are
aired, and that Programme Logs are initialed and the "actual"
time that the ads are aired is written on the Log sheet.
Problems:
The General Manager may refer an agreement back to the
Sponsorship Director for modification.
If for whatever reason the Programme Director cannot schedule
messages for a particular week they shall schedule "make goods"
for the week following and send notice of same to the General
Manager and the Sponsorship Director.
Remuneration:
The Sponsorship Director shall receive 40% of gross sales. They shall be
responsible for covering their own costs such as phone, transport &
photocopying. They may from time to time apply to the General Manager for
the costs of exceptional items to be covered by Trent Radio.
Provision shall be made for a split of up to 90/10 of the commission should
someone other than the Sponsorship Director expedite a sponsorship.
EXAMPLE COPY:
Trent Radio acknowledges the support of Frank Young, owner of
Young's Refrigeration which has been serving Peterboro and area
customers since 1957.
Young's Refrigeration sells all manner of refrigerators,
freezers, for residential, institutional and commercial
applications, including brands by CGE and Moffat.
For those in cottage country Frank has propane refrigerators and
all products sold by Young's Refrigeration are freon free.
Young's Refrigeration are open for business Monday through
Friday from 9 to 5, and on Saturdays until noon. You can drop
by the store at Ashburnham and Lock Streets or call 740-COOL.
Ask about free delivery and disposal of your old unit.
That's Young's Refrigeration.
---+----
Definition of Terms of what WE DO.
Acknowledgment - "Trent Radio acknowledges the support of [name
of owner], owner of [name of business]." at the top of the
message.
Broadcast Season - Three are three Broadcast Seasons, roughly;
Fall: Sep - Dec
Spring: Jan - April
Summer: May - Aug
Note there are two scheduled shut downs a year, roughly
3 weeks commencing 2 weeks prior to 31 December
Last 2 weeks of August
Sponsor Identification - a description of the SPONSOR of a live copy nature.
Simple statements may NOT be dramatisations nor include music or
sound effects.
Such statements may incorporate the names of the sponsor, the
business address, hours of business and a brief general description
of services or products that the sponsor provides including the name
and brand name of the product.
Such statements must NOT contain enticements or imperatives to buy
nor may they include references to price, convenience, durability
and desirability or contain other comparative or competitive
references.
Co-op Sponsorship - Where the local sponsor receives a percentage of
reimbursement from the manufacturer or their agent for
brand name mention in the sponsorship message. ie. Frank
Young Refrigeration receives a 50% co-op reimbursement from
Moffat Refrigeration of Canada Inc, on expenses paid for
Frank Young sponsorships which mention Moffat (can be
required to be an exclusive) Another example:
"Russelle/Toyota"
The first name is the local merchant while the second name is
the national manufacturer or brand name.
Live Copy Nature - read in a calm, sedate unperturbed voice, without resort
to artificial urgency or pointless giddiness
ROS Run-of-Station - A tactic used in broadcast media whereby
sponsorships are scheduled throughout the day and night at
the discretion of the station or network, as opposed to time
periods designated by the sponsor.
Back-to-Back - Sponsorships scheduled consecutively without
programming interruptions.
Sponsorship Cluster Format - a term to describe the broadcast of
two or more sponsorships consecutively. A Trent Radio
the maximum cluster will be two minutes with an ID
aired after the first minute, all run BACK-to-BACK.
e.g. Any combination of;
30" 30" ID 30" 30" or 30" 30" ID 60" or
60" ID 30" 30" or 60" ID 60"
ID< or Ident/A> - Station identification. At Trent Radio our ID
script is;
"Trent Radio 92.7, broadcasting from Peterboro, through the
facilities of CFFF-FM."
Note: the phrase "through the facilities of" . We were Trent
Radio for sixteen years *before* we had a licence.
Vertical Rotation - The scheduling of sponsorships across many time
periods throughout the course of a day, week or month with the
intention of reaching as many different people as possible.
Similar to Total Audience Plan.
Total Audience Plan (TAP) - A radio term for a schedule of spots airing
in multiple time periods meant to accumulate high levels of
audience reach on a station.
Up front - A method for purchasing sponsorship time well in advance of
the broadcast time, and generally for a protracted period, such
as for a one-year schedule.
Definition of Terms of what WE DO NOT DO:
Guaranteed Position - Where a guarantees is made to place an
sponsorship in a specified position. There would be a
premium charge this if we did.
Preferred Position - The opposite of ROS, these sponsorships are
scheduled at specific time positions as agreed by the
sponsor and the station. There would be a
premium charge this if we did.
Fixed Position - In broadcast, a sponsorship purchased with non-
preemption guarantees.
Adjacency Position - A sponsorship time period that is scheduled
immediately preceding or following a scheduled
programme in which a sponsorship message can be placed.
This is distinct from an in-programme placement.
Participation Position - A sponsorship that appears in-program, as
opposed to between programs during a "break."
Casual Rate - The maximum rate charged. Also called one time rate. If we
did this at Trent Radio, it would probably be set at $25 per
60" subject to minimum order of $100.00.