This is the time for us to support the military and their families. If you were working in ‘91, post 9/11, and ‘93, you remember that we did remarkable, heartfelt radio. We were relevant and compelling. Most important thing: don’t get political.
So…
Family Support Office – Most bases and units have people who help families deal with crises and needs during deployment. Reach out and offer the power of the station to help.
USO – If you had something coming up that could become a fundraiser. Hopefully something more than a banner ad.
Adopt A Family – I knew I was old when a girl who snuck me a six pack of beer on my 18th birthday during a class trip to DC, became the First Lady of Minnesota. She created a program where you could adopt a family. “Family #16 needs someone who could come and grout the leaky bathtub.” “Family #23 needs someone to mow the grandparents’ lawn.” “Family #31 needs someone who is good with math to tutor twice a week.” Not money. Time and services.
Letter Writing – A couple of the Audacy stations have had listeners write Valentine’s cards to little kids in the hospital. In Denver, they just had an event with 600 people doing it. Do it with people writing letters to deployed locals.
Operation Baked Goods – Power 96 in Miami shipped a ton and a half of cookies to local men and women serving overseas. How monstrous is that? Either have people bake them and include notes, or drop off packaged store-bought cookies.
Get Clients Involved – Offer specials and discounts to military families who have people deployed. KLUC in Vegas did a version of that in 2003.
Show Of Support – One of the Citadel stations had listeners dip their hands in paint, and it became a billboard. When I worked with Erik Bradley at Kiss 102, we got a mobile billboard with a giant card on it. It got hauled around to appearances and then driven to Kannapolis, where a Guard unit was getting deployed.
Operation Dog Tag – The morning show at KGGI in Riverside got a hand stamp press thing for like 20 bucks and a box of blank dog tags, and a list of locals from the IE who were deployed. For 5 bucks, you got a dog tag on a chain and wore it in support, and a donation went to the USO. A veterans group took it and drove across the country in an RV doing it. They presented a check to the USO for $30,000 on the freaking Letterman show. Get a dog tag and wear it to support someone you know or someone from the market.
Let me know if I can help. This is the stuff that Radio excels at.
