KBA'S WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

Membership Newsletter

March 26, 2020

NEW COVID-19 PSA'S AVAILABLE

The KBA is working in conjunction with the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky and the Kentucky Medical Association to respond to Governor Andy Beshear’s call for PSAs to reinforce critical public health messages to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 from overwhelming our health care system.

DOWNLOAD HERE

The new PSA's and other resources related to COVID-19 are available on KBA's website at www.kba.org .

SBA LOANS & RELIEF FUNDS

We are working diligently behind the scenes with the NAB and members of Congress to include broadcasters in forthcoming stimulus legislation. We will circulate additional information as it becomes available.

CALCULATING LOWEST UNIT RATE

First, the FCC’s Media Bureau announced extremely helpful and responsive guidance regarding the calculation of the lowest unit rate (LUR) for political advertising given the dire economic circumstances created by the coronavirus pandemic. As you know, federal law requires broadcasters to charge political candidates no more than the LUR for the same class and time of advertising offered to commercial advertisers. NAB and individual broadcasters have informed the FCC that financial difficulties arising from the coronavirus have caused many commercial advertisers to cancel their advertising commitments, and to build goodwill, broadcasters would like to offer free time to commercial clients. However, under normal circumstances, doing so could potentially dramatically lower a station’s LUR.

The Public Notice states that, given the current circumstances, the public interest would be served by allowing broadcasters to exclude such free time when calculating the LUR, provided the free time is “not associated with an existing commercial contract for paid time or otherwise considered bonus spots.” Although the Bureau does not further explain this condition, NAB understands that advertisers offered free time may include advertisers that are already running paid schedules, however, there may not be any contractual connection or quid pro quo between the free and paid schedules. The offer of free time must stand alone. NAB recommends that broadcasters keep careful documentation of the terms of their offers of free time and the schedules of free time aired, just in case they receive any inquiries or complaints from political candidates. We also suggest that broadcasters consult their own attorney before implementing this guidance.

This new guidance is only applicable “to the current period and not necessarily... when more ordinary conditions are restored.”

SHARED SERVICES AGREEMENTS

Many of you are also engaging in temporary news sharing arrangements for a variety of reasons. We noted last week that the FCC responded to NAB advocacy by clarifying that news sharing arrangements developed in the current environment do not have to be placed in a station’s public file. Today, the Commission addressed the effect of certain local marketing and shared services agreements on station attribution under the FCC’s ownership rules.

Typically, under the Commission’s rules such news programming under the terms of these agreements may not exceed 15% of the brokered station’s weekly programming hours. Thus, providing programming in excess of 15% of the brokered television station’s weekly programming hours may result in violation of the Local Television Ownership Rule. In this Public Notice, the Commission clarified that during the period that the COVID-19 outbreak remains a national emergency, individual licensees may request temporary waivers of the Local Television Ownership Rule to provide more news coverage to brokered stations than is currently provided by existing local marketing, shared services, or related agreements if such additional coverage would exceed 15% of their current weekly programming. This should remove another barrier to sharing resources and news production for stations across the country.

LICENSE RENEWAL AP STILL DUE 4/1/20? YES!

April Regulatory Dates for Broadcasters: The FCC May Be...

Life has been upended for most Americans due to the spread of the coronavirus and that tumult is, of course, reaching broadcasters as it reaches others throughout the country. As we wrote here, like many agencies and businesses, as part of its...

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www.broadcastlawblog.com

LBS WEBINAR: TOMORROW @ 12:12PM

What’s Your COVID-19 Strategy?

Thursday, March 26th

12:12 PM ET

(Yes, this is the real start time)

All hands on deck! Uncertainty abounds as our government tries to get its arms around the COVID-19 virus. Broadcast sellers and managers are now finding themselves working from home, geographically isolated from each other, and looking for answers to provide to panicked prospects and clients.

To that end, Local Broadcast Sales is hosting an unprecedented webinar for TV and radio station owners, leaders, managers, and reps! Join us as FOUR industry icons spend a full hour providing you with ideas, strategies, and thought starters for your consideration. Plan to stay after for an extended Q&A time with these LBS leaders who have agreed to stay on to answer all of your relevant questions!

RADIO TALENT INSTITUTE CANCELLED

We regret to inform you that the KBA WKU Radio Talent Institute at Western Kentucky University, has been cancelled. It was a difficult decision but has obviously become the safe and prudent one.

We have contacted all students who have applied to let them know their applications are automatically accepted into the KBA WKU Radio Talent Institute for 2021.

We are going to take advantage of this time to get a head start on 2021, and put plans and actions in place earlier than usual for next summer’s Institute.

RADIO. IT'S ON!

Radio It's On!

One of the things that has become, and will become, increasingly evident during this time is the relevance and value of radio to those it serves as an information and entertainment medium for everyone, everywhere, anytime. Radio is not canceled - ...

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rab.com

RECORDING OF TUESDAY MEMBERSHIP CALL

If you missed the membership conference call on Tuesday morning with Governor Beshear, Gordon Smith, Erica Farber & Tom Ray, you may listen to the recorded audio by clicking on the link below.

3/24/20 CONFERENCE CALL

AFFINITY X WEBINAR FOLLOW UP

If you missed our “Advertising in a Down Economy” training webinar last Friday, please be sure to download the recorded webinar and copy of the presentation.

Recorded Training Webinar: click here to access
Training Presentation PDF: click here to access

For those who were able to attend, we promised we would aggregate, organize and distribute the compilation of ideas shared in the ”chat“ discussion during the webinar. A recap of those ideas can be found by clicking here .

Additionally, our customer success team is here to assist you and help collaborate further on advertising strategies. Would you please take 4 minutes to fill out this brief survey, let us know your feedback concerning the training, and share any additional ideas? Click here to access.

We are here to serve you and your organization in these uncharted times. All of us at AffinityX are deeply committed to working with you to provide solutions to your advertisers during this time.

WHY SHOULD I CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE NOW?

BY PAT BRYSON

Our clients are asking themselves this question daily. As I mentioned in my newsletter of 15 March, there has been research done for 90 years in periods of economic interruption. The conclusions are always the same:

1. Those companies who continue to advertise during difficult economic times weather the downturn better.

2. After the downturn ends, their sales rebound faster and higher than those companies who went silent.

I understand that this is a difficult message to deliver and for our clients to hear. Our clients are looking for ways to save money. Saving money by going silent is a regressive move. Why?

When competitors go silent, it provides a wide open field to build market share. Building market share depends partly on "share of voice". Having the largest share of voice can be accomplished for less money when your competitors aren't advertising. It's not how much you spend, it's how much more you spend than your competitors.

The current environment provides a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the bold company. Those companies who are willing to step up and work on increasing market share will reap the rewards.

Why is market share important? In times like these, the total consumer pie may shrink. Companies can't just measure results on sales volume. If the total pie is smaller, sales volume may go down. But, if by advertising they increase market share, the minute the total pie expands, if they hold their market share, their sales go up exponentially.

Case in point: McGraw Hill did studies during the 1974/75 and 1981/82 recessions. They found that companies who cut advertising in 1981/82 increased their sales only 19%between 1980 and 1985 (after the recession ended).

Those companies that continued to advertise in 1981-82 enjoyed a 275% sales increase. No, that's not a typo. It illustrates how gaining market share can translate into increased sales.

This situation will not go on forever. As soon as stores open, travel resumes, fear subsides, there will be pent-up demand. We want our clients to be ready to take advantage of this!

And, never forget that there are still people buying, Coronavirus or not. If a refrigerator goes out, tires go flat, TV goes out, they will be replaced as quickly as possible. In fact, one broadcaster said a local appliance store was selling out of freezers. There are always businesses that will benefit.

In our next newsletter, we'll look at messaging. What do our clients need to tell our listeners?

I do an entire session on selling in a crisis. Contact me if you'd like more information.

Until then, stay safe and happy selling!

THIS ECAST SPONSORED BY PEM

Learn more about Wedding Planning with Pem by clicking here.

DATES TO REMEMBER

APRIL 8, 2020

9:00 am - KBA Board of Directors Meeting via Conference Call

OCTOBER 11-13, 2020

KBA Annual Conference (Owensboro, KY)

*All times shown are Eastern

HOTLINES

ENGINEERING HOTLINE

KBA’s new Engineering Hotline is up and running. If you have a question for Scott, please call (866) 4KBAHELP.

KBA ENGINEERING HOTLINE

(866) 4KBAHELP

LEGAL HOTLINE

Get answers to your everyday regulatory questions – political, EEO, public file and Kentucky legal concerns. No charges for any questions that can be answered by phone without research.

Call Dawn: 202-256-9551

Call Josh: 502-568-0218