What is Underwriting?

Ever heard the familiar phrase, “Support for this station is brought to you by…”? This is an underwriting announcement. When you make a business contribution to a non-profit radio station, that support is acknowledged on air; this is called “underwriting”.

WFHB is a non-commercial community radio station supported by contributions and NOT advertising.

The Value of Underwriting

Align your business with a trusted source of information and education in the community.
Underwriting gives you a philanthropic edge and will enhance your image as a participant and supporter of community organizations.
Listeners of WFHB are often ethical consumers and care about spending their hard-earned money with businesses that care.
WFHB is a non-profit station, which means your underwriting support is tax deductible.
WFHB 1600 watt signal airs from four FM frequencies and reaches six counties of Brown, Greene, Lawrence, Monroe, Morgan, and Owen.

Rates
Option 1 – $15.00 Flat or Standard rate per mention
Option 2 – $13.50 (10% discount) Pre-paid Contract OR Contract for one year with at least 100 mentions
Option 3 – $12.00 (20% discount) Prepaid contract for one year with at least 100 mentions

To Become an Underwriter
Contact WFHB’s Development Director, Brooke Turpin, at [email protected]

CURRENT UNDERWRITERS

and Christopher Holly Attorney-at-law!

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Is underwriting just basically advertising? At a glance, the two seem very similar, however, there are some very distinctive differences. When a business pays for advertising, they are promoting their business, services, and products to encourage listeners to purchase. Underwriting messages are an acknowledgement for contribution. Essentially, underwriting is a way for a non-profit radio station to publicly acknowledge a donation from a for-profit business which is actually required by the FCC. However the FCC also mandates that these acknowledgements may not promote any of the services, facilities, or products of the for-profit underwriter, express the views of any person with respect to any matter of public importance or interest, or support or oppose any candidate for political office.

What can an underwriting message include? The FCC outlines the information that can be included as follows: Name, Address, telephone number, and/or website, brand or trade name of the sponsor’s product or service, value-neutral descriptions of products or services, non-promotional slogan, historical information, such as the length of time the sponsor’s establishment has served the area.

My business has won awards in the past for service. Can you announce my business as ‘award-winning’? Unfortunately, that is prohibited. Acknowledgements may not contain comparative or qualitative language or language that tends to distinguish the sponsor from its competitors. Here are some examples of language that the FCC found to be ‘promotional’ in nature.

Efficient
Economical
Dependable
Dedicated
Prompt
Fair price
Reliable
Excellent
Leading
Award-winning
Board-certified

We have specials every Tuesday night at the restaurant, can we mention that in our announcements? Unfortunately, no. Acknowledgements may not contain price information or words like “happy hour,” “ladies night,” “best buy,” “clearance,” and “special.”

Can my on-air announcement include telling listeners to visit our website or call for more information about our products? No, however, we can include your website address in the announcement, but it cannot be in the form of a ‘call to action’. A call to action is a command that the listener do something that leads to a purchase. Acknowledgements may not contain inducements to buy, sell, or lease. The acknowledgement can say, “More information can be found at www….” but it cannot say “To buy tickets visit www….”.

Here is a comprehensive list of what the FCC outlines that underwriting acknowledgments may not include:

Value statements and subjective language (comfortable, convenient, elegant, helpful, reliable, safe).
Reference to price or value, or any inducement to purchase (affordable, free, low-cost, special offer).
Superlatives and qualitative language (largest, oldest, award-winning).
Calls to action (stop by, visit, call, sign up).
First-person pronouns (you, we, our) as messages are read live or recorded as live by VPR hosts/announcers.
Unnecessary repetition of the business name.
Language that is intended to sway public opinion.