María Muñoz-Blanco
Almost a century ago, a gentleman by the name of Henry Garrett (then superintendent of the Dallas Police & Fire Signal System) installed a 50-watt radio transmitter in the central fire station to transmit fire alarms to the other Dallas fire stations.
Between fire alarms, Garrett connected the transmitter to a phonograph and played his collection of classical music recordings. Thus began the life of WRR, which 90 years later (and with a much, much stronger signal) is one of the divisions of the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs.
WRR 101.1 FM is a 24/7 classical music station, operating under an FCC commercial radio license. Because of this commercial license, WRR is what we call in the city an enterprise fund: the station sells advertising to generate revenues to cover its operating expenses, pay for capital upgrades, and keep an operating cash reserve.
The station plays an important role as the voice of the arts in North Texas, providing a venue for call-to-action advertising for arts organizations. I never expected to be in the radio business, but I find that many of the strategies used by the station to meet its bottom line can be successfully applied elsewhere in the agency and by our local arts organizations.
Leveraging is the name of the game at WRR — and it can be a powerful tool for community engagement for arts organizations. Our most successful account executives are those who leverage the station’s connection with the cultural community with the interests of advertisers, creating promotional packages that bring visibility to arts groups, revenue to the station, and customer satisfaction to the advertiser.
For example, we recently had a new Goodson Acura dealership open in Dallas. WRR planned a live two-hour broadcast, featuring the Texas Ballet Theater (TBT), who brought 12 of their dancers and Nutcracker costumes to the dealership, along with ticket giveaways, slippers signed by the Sugar Plum Fairy, and a walk-on role for a grand prize drawing (plus box office staff for easy on-site ticket sales!).
The account exec didn’t stop at just leveraging this one group: he also invited Stephanie’s Premium Bakery (a local bakery business that is also a station advertiser), who made a special batch of giveaway cookies for the event — some with the Goodson logo, some in the shape of a ballerina slipper, and some featuring a TBT dancer leaping in the air.
I often encourage my staff and local arts groups to take advantage of opportunities to get their organization out in the community. Don’t think only of bringing people to your venue, take your people (and props!) to community venues to expand your reach.
Don’t pass up an opportunity to showcase your work, even in unexpected places (a car showroom!). Don’t just bring brochures, banners or posters, bring your artists — they are the best salespeople for an arts organization.
Don’t be afraid to share the limelight with others — why not bask in their limelight?
The airwaves don’t pay much attention to municipal boundaries, but it has been my experience that local arts agencies and arts organizations may give geography more attention that it deserves, sometimes because of funding restrictions, sometimes because of a strong affiliation with a specific community.
WRR may be a city of Dallas asset, but our listeners and advertisers come from all over North Texas. The station’s signal is particularly powerful — practically from the Red River all the way to Waco — and our internet streaming is yielding listeners from as far as Russia. The station sales staff has no qualms reaching outside of the expected zip codes to look for new advertisers.
Program staff treats requests from Fort Worth listeners with the same care as they do Dallas listeners and the on-air and web calendars cover events from throughout the region. The station perceives itself as a regional asset and it looks for opportunities to connect regionally, participating in events as varied as the opening of the Dallas Opera season (a “red carpet” broadcast) or a traditional town celebration like McKinney’s Dickens of a Christmas.
When was the last time an audience member stopped at the city limits sign on the interstate and turned back?
There are geographic considerations of time/travel for arts audiences, but limiting our efforts to the people we already serve is no longer enough. It’s amazing what connections you’ll find when you look.
My work with WRR has opened my eyes to unexpected pairings — many times the way into the hearts and minds of potential audiences is via the relationship they already have or the relationships they are searching for.
Peer arts groups may love to share the focus, but if not, there are bakeries, car dealerships, tax preparers, real estate agents, dental offices, and an infinite number of small businesses who are looking for the same connections.
Don’t be afraid to be commercial, look beyond your conventional boundaries and, like Henry Garrett, spread your signal to everyone who needs to hear the alarm.
