Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Communications Officer
The Communications Officers is an appointed voting member of the Board of Directors (Board) of the TVCWRT, typically serving for two years or more as an unpaid volunteer. The primary responsibility of the Communications Officer is to coordinate and manage external and internal RT publicity including, but not limited to, publicity for programs and other RT events, in various media formats (emails, newsletters, “Flash Announcements”, flyers, newspapers, radio and television public service announcements, etc.) .
Recurring TasksOngoing:
Recommend participation in outside events to engage in publicity through outreach. Examples: Battle of Decatur recruiting, Sulphur Creek Trestle tour, Fort Henderson historical commemoration.
Update and maintain the TVCWRT Publicity Mailing List currently uploaded into the Constant Contact address book. The TVCWRT Publicity Mailing List contains email addresses of numerous individuals, media outlets, and organizations of interest.
Stay abreast of media formats and deadlines to ensure timely submission (or recording) of announcements relative to event dates. (For example, WLRH public service announcements, or PSAs, typically require as much as a 90-day lead time just for their recording; add to this the desired time for announcing the event prior to the date of the event.)
Monthly:
No later than two weeks prior to the RT’s upcoming monthly general meeting, prepare and release external announcements of the meeting. (Note advance lead times for PSAs; see Appendix A, PSA Coordination and Conduct.)
No later than the Monday prior to the RT’s upcoming monthly general meeting, prepare “Flash Announcement” fliers to be sent to the general members in good standing (i.e., members on the Active Members list maintained in Constant Contact by the Membership Officer). (See Appendix B, Flash Announcements.)
Attend Board meetings; review and comment on and concur with Board minutes.
Annually. No later than October, plan and coordinate for public service announcements (PSAs) on a
quarterly basis for the coming year. Refer to Appendix A, PSA Coordination and Conduct. October: Provide annual budget recommendations on publicity issues
Other:
Actively participate in RT planning activities and the preparation of recurring and ad hoc reports and plans (e.g., the annual updating of the Strategic Plan, preparation of the annual budget, review of monthly Board minutes, and so forth).
Maintain liaison with other organizations whose activities support the RT’s core mission of education; organizations such as,o Huntsville-Madison County Public Library and libraries in other counties and municipalities. o Radio and Television Stationso 1st Patriot Support Corps o Madison Station Historical Preservation Society o Huntsville-Madison County Historical Society o Huntsville Traditional Music Association (Bob Hicks, HTMA Publicity, [email protected],
www.huntsvillefolk.org) o Sons of Confederate Veterans (particularly Captain Thomas H. Hobbs Camp No. 768, P.O.
Box 662, Athens, Alabama 35612-0662, www.scv768.org; our principal point of contact currently is TVCWRT member Lee Hattabaugh)
o United Daughters of the Confederacy (particularly the Virginia Clay Clopton 1107 Chapter, Huntsville; our principal point of contact currently is TVCWRT member Marjorie Reeves)
o Historic Huntsville Foundation (our principal point of contact is TVCWRT member Carol Codori)
o Neighboring RTs (points of contact are currently loaded into Constant Contact).
Tips and Suggestions
The Communications Officer (often referred to as Publicity Officer) is the public face of the RT, which makes this position critical to the RT successfully fulfilling its primary mission of being a public forum for non-partisan study, education, and discussions concerning the American Civil War.
Two Thursday evenings each month are dedicated to the general meetings (typically 11 months) and Board meetings (typically 8-10 per year). In addition, the RT VP duties typically require 2-4 hours per month.
Maintain frequent contact with other Board members just to let them know what you are doing. “Staff” anything that might affect their operations through them for comment and concurrence prior to “going final”. Send drafts for comments and remarks to the Board members to obtain feedback.
Maintain close contact with the local public radio station, WLRH (89.3 FM), which allows us to do PSAs. WLRH reaches tens of thousands throughout the Tennessee Valley. Mr. Brett Tannehill is the current general manager.
Email: [email protected]: 256895.9574
Maintain close contact with the editor of the Redstone Rocket newspaper who will publicize our events. The Redstone Rocket is published by the Redstone Arsenal command and has a potential audience of thousands. Notices must be submitted no later than Thursday of the week prior to the event. The current editor is Mr. Skip Vaughn.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 256.955.0133 Try to anticipate program information required for the “Flash Announcements”. Solicit
biographical information from the newsletter editor and programs chair if it is not otherwise available so it can be included in the “Flash Announcements”.
Appendix A, PSA Coordination and Conducta. Public Service Announcements are provided by local station, WLRH. These announcements are
free of charge but follow very specific formats and requirements. The must be recorded at the radio station no later than 60 days in advance (2 months). A reservation can be arranged with the station to record. The WLRH radio station is very easy to access and parking is never a problem. It is located on the very south side of the UAH campus and is best reached by turning off of Sparkman Drive, east onto John Wright Drive NW. Bear to the right at the “Y” split. Continue after the stop about one quarter mile and it is located at the first turn to the right. It is a low, single story brick building with parking in front.
An example format for a PSA is below. It must be submitted on the WLRH website (only). It cannot be emailed. Visit wlrh.org/psa for submission format and information.
EXAMPLE: The Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table will conduct a tour of the 1863 siege of Chattanooga led by nationally renown National Park ServiceRanger-Historian, Jim Ogden. The tour is Saturday, 2 November and open tothe public. The one-day tour is on a non-football weekend for both Alabamaand Auburn and depart from Huntsville. Registration and information is at T V C W R T dot ORG and 2-5-6-X-X-X-X-X-X-X (Your telephone contact number).
The PSA should not exceed 25 seconds when read normally. It will be edited to remove any “fluff” space. Take a ‘hard copy’ of the PSA to the recording session.
The PSA administrative requirements are cited in this WLRH guidance http://wlrh.org/psa. They are cited below. While they are “politically correct”, WLRH did not make these up. WLRH must follow these federally mandated rules and regulations.Federal Communications Commission and Local Rules and RegulationsThe FCC has installed stricter rules and regulations for non-commercial radio language and content than for our commercial counterparts. This has been true since the inception of public broadcasting. If there's ever any question about language and content, please speak with a representative of WLRH.Pricing informationYou cannot mention prices or refer to discounts or sales of any kind. You may tell listeners where tickets are available for an event. Words such as "free," "sale," "discount," “purchase,” and other references to prices and values are absolutely not allowed. If an event is free you may say it is “open to the public” or “the public is invited to attend.”Value neutral descriptionsYou cannot qualify a product, service or event as something that may be more or better in some way than another event, service or product. The FCC disallows non-commercial broadcast outlets from comparative language in describing products, services, or events. Commercial broadcasters can say that something is the best, or number one, or one of kind, but non-commercial broadcasters cannot. When describing something in value neutral terms you will be describing the actual event, product or service exactly as it is without embellishing language. Here's an example of what is allowable:
The XYZ Organization will present its annual spring concert this Saturday at 6 PM, and will feature the music of Grammy winning artist, Dude. Lawn chairs, coolers and blankets will keep you comfortable under the night sky. Information at 555-1234.Here's an example of the same one that is not allowable:The XYZ Organization, one of the leading organizations of its kind, will present its fantastic annual spring concert this Saturday at 6 PM, featuring the country's favorite artist, Grammy winning Dude. Lawn chairs, coolers and blankets will keep you comfortable under the night sky. Information at 555-1234.The bold portions of this example are not compliant with rules regarding value neutral descriptions.Language for FundraisersA concert to raise money for a service organization can be promoted as a concert with a brief statement in the body of the announcement that states who will benefit. An example is:…Proceeds benefit XYZ Organization.This is the only statement allowable in a PSA to acknowledge a beneficiary. Words such as "fundraiser" are not allowable. There are some fundraising activities that we simply cannot promote such as silent auctions, telethons, and yard sales.Calls to ActionCalls to Action are, perhaps, the most common offense made in PSAs. The FCC disallows calls to action on non-commercial broadcasting stations. A Call to Action is a statement or phrase that commands or invites someone to action. The best way to explain this is to give some examples.Example 1)"Bring lawn chairs and blankets."The word "bring" is a call to action, you are telling a listener to "bring" something with them. The compliant manner of stating this would be "Lawn chairs and blankets welcomed." You are not telling the listener to do something; you are merely stating that the event’s organizers will allow people to have these items with them at the event. Example 2) "Come to tonight's presentation of Dude." In this statement you are telling the listener to take action by coming to the event. The compliant version of this statement would be "The XYZ organization will present Dude tonight." This simply says that the event is tonight and does not instruct a listener to be there.Example 3) "Don't forget to get your tickets." Don't forget" and "get" are both instructions to the listener to take action, in this case, get tickets. To be compliant you would say "Tickets available by pre-order only." You can see that it is the same message, which is to get your tickets ahead of time, but the language falls within the parameters of what the FCC and WLRH does permit.Example 4) “For more information call 555-1234." The word "call" is clearly an inducement for a listener to take action, in this case to pick up their phone and "call." The same message is communicated by changing the language to "Information at 555-1234." Tone The tone you use when reading PSAs is important. PSAs must sound consistent with our other announcements. PSAs that are read like a commercial, even with compliant language and content, is inconsistent with our overall presentation.
Additional language/content guidelineAll PSAs must end with "Information at…" This creates a "consistency of sound", an important component of WLRH's overall sound. Do not qualify the word "information" with words like "further" or "more". A web site or email is also acceptable with or without a phone number, but may not include added language, either. Please review the following examples.Acceptable PSA close: "Information at 555-1234 and/or info.org." Unacceptable PSA close: "Further information on this event at 555-1234 or you can visit our new website at info.org." Examples of non-compliant words and phrases The following list includes some of the words and phrases that are either comparative, price related, or calls to action, and that are not allowable on WLRH. They are in no particular order. This list is also not a complete list of all words and phrases that are not acceptable.
bestfinestnumber onediscount or discountedpricespecially pricedfree (unless it's in the name of an event)call uscome and…visit usvisit our…buypurchasedon't missdon't forgetbetter thanmore interestingyour moneyget your…don't gohurry and get…
fundraiserauctionsilent auctionsaleclose outbringsavingsdig instay foryour only…flea marketyard salethrift salefeelow costrafflemost beautiful (or any other word preceded by "most")fantastic
Appendix B, Flash Announcements“Flash Announcements” are “Word” documents sent to announce upcoming events or meetings. The minimum information on them consists of the “5 Ws”. The more information, the better. A biography of the upcoming program speaker helps the president at the meeting by not having to cover everything about the speaker. Additional information can be added which might be of interest to members of the Round Table. For example, local, upcoming War Between the States events or issues of interest can be included. The “Flash Announcement” is sent by Constant Contact. An example of the October 2019 “Flash Announcement” is below:
