What is Underwriting? KZYX is the public radio station for all of Mendocino County, supported by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting with oversight by the FCC. Public radio stations do not air advertising like commercial radio stations, but businesses are encouraged to “support KZYX” via underwriting the station and/or a particular program. We are restricted to messaging by the following key rules:
Interested in becoming an Underwriter?
What CAN be included: 1. Company Name, location, telephone number and/ or web address*, 2. Value neutral desscription of products and services; and 3. Length of time the company has been in business. *Contractors are reguired bye the State of California toprovide their License Number.
Contact us: Katharine Cole, Director of Underwriting uw@kzyx.org PO Box 1, Phila, CA 95466 Monday/Thursday 707-895-2324
What CANNOT be included: 1. Calls to action (“this is a deal you can’t pass up” or “come on down”); 2. Promotional or qualitative language (“the best ice cream”) or slogans of any kind; 3. Price information of any kind (“our fees are only 3%” or “free”); 4. Inducements to buy or sell (“20% off”)
An example of Underwriting: “Support for KZYX comes from our members and XYZ Company, providing legal services to the community for the past 30 years. More information at 555-5555555 and XYZ COMPANY DOT COM.”
How to Support KZYX and YOUR BUSINESS by Becoming an Underwriter
UNDERWRITING RATES 2022
Our most popular programs are ala: Oak & Thorn Humble Pie Trading Time All Things Considered Morning & Weekend Edition Audible Feast Retro Ranch Loose Canon Classics & our Jazz Programs
For-Profit Businesses $20 per spot / 12 spot Min.
Non-Profit Businesses $15 per spot / 12 spot Min. If you are interested in joining our Underwriters in supporting KZYX, the following is the simple process! 1. Contact Underwriting Director via uw@kzyx.org and include in your email your name, contact information, business name and how many spots you are interested in placing. There IS a 10% discount when you sign up for a minimum of three (3) months or more. The 12-spot minimum represents three spots per week for a month-the absolute minimum to have your message resonate with our listeners. 2. Underwriting Director will forward a simple 2-page contract for your review which includes exactly what KZYX will provide and an example of copy for your review. 3. Once you sign and return the contract (and this can be via scan or phone photo) to the Underwriting Director who will schedule your spots into the station logs. A copy of the air schedule will also be provided to you on request. 4. You will then receive an invoice via “WAVE”, our online accounting application. This invoice may wind up in your spam file, so please look for it within 24 hours of your sending the contract, and move to your inbox for future billing. Invoices are due in 30 days (Net 30). 5. PLEASE LISTEN! You may have slight revisions to your copy once you hear it read on the air and that is perfectly normal. Just contact us and we will update your copy within a week of airing.
KZYX Demographics: Mendocino County Public Radio has been the sole public radio provider in Mendocino County for more than 32 years. We are the County’s source for NPR programming in the mornings and evenings and have more that 100 local volunteer programmers bringing local music and public affairs programs to our listeners 24/7. With three boradcasting towers spanning the County, KZYX has more than 2000 members and reaches over 20.00025.000 listeners terrestrially. We also stream online at KZYX.org and via our app, expanding our listening audience around the nation with daily podcasts of our local news and community outreach programs. KZYX is known as THE source for emergency local broadcasting with on-the-hour fire reporting, local evergency releases, evacuation orders, earthquake, tsunami and storm reports. When the electricity goes out, KZYX continues to cover the County with terrestrial reporting. KZYX also pioneered the weekly local Covid 19 reporting, now copied by local commercial stations. We are particularly proud of our Spanish-language programs including Mendo Latino, Alma Latina, a 5am Spanish-language report and our bilingual news shows.
Our listeners tend to be over the age of forty and have the environment and local culture at the top of their interest lists. Our classical and jazz programming (10am to Noon) tends towards senior listeners and longtime residents who tend to fall into the upper-middle classes, while our alternative and local programming brings in younger listeners who are college educated, working and middle class, and interested in eclectic music and progressive viewpoints. KZYX.org offers podcasts of local news reporting as well as out “jukebox” feature allowing listeners to access any of our programs at any time of the day or night. Our KZYX app provides direct streaming, notifications and daily updates. App-specific advertising is also available. And our Community Calendar of local cultural events runs twice a day throughout the week. Underwriters are automatically subscribed to our Mailchimp Email Newsletter for the latest Up-dates to Underwriting opportunities and events coming up, including NPR pre-emptions, Pledge Drives, Special Programming, etc.