JANUARY 25, 2024

Rising Above: A Virtual Sales and Management Summit continues today and is complimentary to active KBA member stations. To learn more or register, please click HERE.

As you are well aware, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act (AM4EVA) was introduced in May of last year. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation would require the Transportation Secretary to issue a rule requiring vehicles manufactured in or imported into the U.S. to have devices installed that provide access to AM radio. It would also, among other things, ensure that AM is easily accessible to the driver and require motor vehicles that do not include AM radio (in the period between enactment and prior to the Transportation Secretary issuing the new rule) to be labeled as such to consumers in a clear and conspicuous manner.

As we speak, there are 46 co-sponsors in the Senate and 211 co-sponsors in the House. The battle is not over, but as an industry we certainly are well positioned at this point.

With that all said, we thought that you might like to know that we are not alone in our efforts. Here is a list of the 53 groups on record supporting the AM4EVA:

1. AARP
2. Agricultural Retailers Association
3. ALLvanza
4. American Dairy Coalition
5. American Farm Bureau Federation
6. American Feed Industry Association
7. American Seed Trade Association
8. American Sheep Industry Association
9. American Sugarbeet Growers Association
10. Big City Emergency Managers
11. Corn Refiners Association
12. Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists
13. CropLife America
14. Farm Credit Council
15. Florida Sugar Cane Growers
16. Hispanic Leadership Fund
17. Independent Beef Association of North Dakota
18. Independent Cattlemen’s Association of Texas
19. International Association of Emergency Managers
20. International Association of Fire Chiefs
21. International Fresh Produce Association
22. Latino Farmers & Ranchers International, Inc.
23. Latino Media Network
24. Livestock Marketing Association
25. Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council (MMTC)
26. National Association of Black-Owned Broadcasters (NABOB)
27. National Association of Counties
28. National Association of Farm Broadcasting
29. National Association of State Departments of Agriculture
30. National Association of Wheat Growers
31. National Corn Growers Association
32. National Cotton Council
33. National Council of Farmer Cooperatives
34. National Emergency Management Association
35. National Farmers Union
36. National Grange
37. National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
38. National Milk Producers Federation
39. National Sorghum Producers
40. National Urban League
41. North Dakota Farmers Union
42. NRB (National Religious Broadcasters)
43. OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates
44. Organic Trade Association
45. Rural & Agriculture Council of America
46. SAG-AFTRA
47. Texas Sugar Cane Growers
48. The Fertilizer Institute
49. U.S. Beet Sugar Association
50. U.S. Black Chambers
51. U.S. Cattlemen’s Association
52. USA Rice
53. Women Involved in Farm Economics

The deadline to file the 2023 Annual Children’s Television Programming Report with the FCC is January 30, 2024, reflecting programming aired during the 2023 calendar year. In addition, commercial stations’ documentation of their compliance with the commercial limits in children’s programming during the 2023 calendar year must be placed in their Public Inspection File by January 30, 2024. Click HERE to learn more.

Applications are now being accepted for both the KBA High School Senior Scholarship Fund and the Harry Barfield Scholarship.

KBA High School Senior Scholarship Fund

This high school senior scholarship is a post-secondary partial scholarship program for children of employees of Kentucky radio and television stations. KBA will annually award fourteen (14) scholarships of fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500) each to qualified sons and daughters of employees of Kentucky broadcast stations.

KBA Harry Barfield Scholarship

Four scholarships of $2,500 apiece are available to students who are currently majoring in broadcasting or communications at a college or university in Kentucky. The scholarships are awarded through a competitive application process which includes academic achievement, recommendation of a faculty member, extracurricular activities and a 500 word essay. Since the scholarship awards are renewable for a second year provided recipients continue to meet specified criteria, priority consideration will be given to students who are rising juniors.

The deadline to submit an application for either scholarship is April 1, 2024. This is a month earlier than previous years. To learn more about KBA's scholarship opportunities and to submit an application, click HERE.

With just 3 weeks before pitchers and catchers report to spring training, several KBA members made the trip to Cincinnati yesterday for the annual Cincinnati Reds Affiliate Luncheon. The group participated in a Q&A session with Reds players and management, toured the clubhouse and took a few cuts in the batting cage. While no KBA'ers made the team, a few egos were harmed in the process.

We want to promote YOU! Send us your staff additions, promotions and special events. Email Chris at chris@kba.org

PROSPECTING MADE EASY(ER)...

Have you watched or read any news this week?  Notice the increased level of uncertainty concerning the current state of the economy?  People are still scared, apprehensive, and uncertain about where this is headed.  Radio continues engaging, informing, entertaining, and connecting with our audience in increasingly inspiring ways. You would think that business owners and potential advertisers would recognize the updated research about radio's power, and your phone would start ringing off the hook. We can only hope, right?  

The RAB has several tools on our website under the sales tools/prospecting drop-down list at the top. Read through today’s issue for research, articles, and helpful tools from your RAB.  Today, we focus on two of my favorites. (If I’m allowed to play favorites). 

(1) The Consumer Behavior by Format profile, linked for members, allows you to match your format to the specific purchasing behavior of your audience. Anything that indexes above 100 means your audience is much more likely than the total market to attract those people.

• For example, if you have a Classic Rock station, your audience is 2.14 times more likely (double) than the general market to ride a motorcycle on the weekends. Is it a good place for people who sell motorcycles to advertise

• This list is organized by index, so the first things on the list are the things your audience buys more than the totalmarket. In Classic Rock, you’ll have to scroll through 4-pages before you get down to 100. Read - Lots of opportunities in lots of categories.         

(2) The Pitch Tammy Greenberg on our team prepares the Pitch, which is a deep dive into categories that are important to you.  The Pitch combines many RAB resources into one place. It gives you everything you need to educate and equip yourself to call on any business category. 

Radio is uniquely positioned to provide excellent marketing support to local communities and can respond instantly to changes in how the pandemic is affecting us.  Radio salespeople are no longer “radio” salespeople. They are marketing experts with a full suite of products (solutions) to offer local businesses.  Strategic prospecting with the tools we just shared could be your perfect storm to get your revenue back where you want it and beyond. 

Jeff Schmidt is the SVP of Professional Development at the Radio Advertising Bureau. You can also connect with him by email JSchmidt@rab.com or on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Your active KBA membership entitles you to complimentary access to RAB's online certifications.

FEBRUARY 8, 2024

9:00am - KBA Board of Directors Meeting - held virtually

*All times shown are Eastern

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