Texas Broadcasters: Time to Show Us Your Best Good Works!

posted on 12.02.2019

- TAB Launches 2019 Public Service Survey, Due Jan. 10

TAB is calling on all Texas Radio and TV stations to showcase the good work they’ve been doing this year to strengthen their communities as we continue our effort to ensure that policymakers understand the unique role broadcasters play in the media marketplace. The project, begun in 1998, has so far documented nearly $6 billion in public service contributions to local communities throughout the state.

On average, about 15 percent of stations participate in this survey. TAB does not extrapolate figures for non-responding stations, so the dollar value reported is far below the actual value of stations’ good works.

The 2019 Public Service Ascertainment survey was emailed to GMs last week, with weekly reminders planned to ensure maximum participation by the Jan. 10 due date. Stations have more time to complete this year’s survey than before, and the Jan. 10 deadline coincides with the FCC’s quarterly issues and programs report deadline.

New This Year: Name One Good Thing
Also new this year is a request that stations highlight a singular project that represents their most impactful undertaking of 2019, be it an investigative report or series, charitable cause or community project conducted by a station or cluster. Stations have the option of attaching a PDF encompassing the answer to their survey response.

Selected examples will be highlighted in the final report to policymakers, though all data requested will be presented in aggregate form only on behalf of all Texas stations.

Responses are being evaluated by Dr. August “Augie” Grant, a former TAB Board member and professor in the College of Communications at UT-Austin. He now serves as the J. Rion McKissick professor of journalism at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Vitally Important
This survey is a vitally important exercise. It puts a fine point on the fact that not one of broadcasters’ competitors in the new media marketplace feels or fulfills a responsibility to do good for their listeners and viewers. Certainly, there’s no regulatory entity holding new media entrants to any standards of service or content.

Further, the findings underscore the need for informed policymaking at the state and federal levels alike that recognizes the competitive pressures local Radio and TV stations are facing.

Win Money, Too!
TAB is incentivizing stations to complete this survey early with a weekly drawing of all submissions for each of the first three weeks of December.  The randomly selected entrant will receive $50. The sooner a station completes its survey, the greater the chance to win.

Questions? Contact TAB’s Barbara Rodgers or call (512) 322-9944.

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