CPR Promotional Check-Up - Jun 14, 2021

September 11, 2021

I know it kind of snuck up on us last year. There really wasn’t anything on TV about it for the weeks leading up to, and they really need to settle on a date. Last year it was the 12th. In 2012 it was the 8th. I can totally understand stations missing this.

I don’t know what exactly KDWB in Minny and AMP in Detroit did last year, but seemingly 1 out of every 3 tweets in my feed were from their listeners thanking them for airing their remembrance and there was a lot LOT of “OMG, I’m crying so hard I don’t think I will be able to drive.” Much the same response you get with Filthy On The :50’s and The Birthday Game.

I lobbed an image out to some of the stations that are allowed to post their own content to their sites (WTF?) and KFAN in Minny posted it that morning and got 106 likes and 36 shares in about five minutes.

John & Tammy at KSON in San Diego had some great interviews tha morning including with a woman who was five months pregnant when she escaped the towers.

Pablo, Heat and Tati from WPGC were out making sandwiches for the homeless as DC honors the anniversary with a day of community wide volunteering. Whoever’s idea that was should have gotten a smile face on their report cars.

September 11, 2021

Several stations are already noodling plan, as should you. This is going to be “omnipresent” the week leading up to it, and it’s on a Saturday this year.

Last year I saw some radio person on Facebook refer to 9/11 and some listener/”friend” jumped on her because “It’s old news. Move on”. They were promptly ripped apart by about a hundred people for being (lots of bad words).

You know what would be appropriate for your station, in your market, with your listeners, so scroll through and see what seems like a good fit. But to NOT at least reference the fact that it’s the 20th anniversary of 9/11 would be kind of sad.

In the meantime, in no particular order….

Bell Tolling The exact total of casualties from 9/11 fluctuates. I had heard 3245 once. But if you go to www.wikipedia.com/wiki/September_11_2001_Terrorist_Attack/Casualties and add it up, I came out with 3213. I would go to a park, get a bell, hang it from a beam or tree limb, and let listeners come by and each ring it once, until you get 3213. In theory that should go about 54 minutes. WPXY in Rochester had a firebell in ‘03 at a local fire station. People could drive up, lean out their window and ring it. It was great because it allowed their listeners to participate. Which is why….

The Human Flag Was HUGE with the stations that have done it. You can never go wrong with involving the audience in a salute to the troops.

Empty Shoes The Box in Houston did this in ’94 for and took x number of pairs of empty shoes (one for each murder victim in that market) and drove to DC and laid them out on the steps of the Capital. The Wave in Charleston did this with candles and 3245 empty shoes in a park in ‘02. VERY dramatic. WIOG in Saginaw called theirs The Lost Soles.

Survivor Interviews One my best friends actually went and made something of himself and became a lawyer at some massive firm in New York. Everyone in that market knows someone who knows someone…you get the idea. Karl got a guy from Ireland who he knows, who escaped WTC 1 as a plane passed over his head. John and Tammy at KSON in San Diego found a listener who’d been five months pregnant when she escaped the towers.

Luminaries Wild in San Francisco went out to the beach and set up 3213 bags with lit candles in them in ‘03. How big was this? It was only supposed to go all night, but for a couple of days people kept coming back and replacing the candles on their own.

Name Reading Go out to a central location, set up a mike, and have your listeners do it. That wikipedia website has a moderately complete list. Z-90 in San Diego did this in ‘02 at the Sports Arena. Incorporated the Marine Corps band, a flyover by jets. Maybe the biggest thing that was done in the industry that year.

Re-Naming Is there a local angle? Was someone from your market killed in the attacks? A guy from one of the suburbs of Minneapolis is recognized as the person who started the rebellion on Flight 93. They re-named a post office in his honor. How about a park? Or even bigger, a stretch of highway? So few radio stations ever leave a legacy. Here is an opportunity that is just waiting to happen.

Vets This is also a chance to honor the local servicemen and women who responded to the call of duty following the attacks. Get some on the air, recognize their efforts and sacrifices. Also recognize the people who are overseas right now. Brother Wease at WCMF in Rochester did his show at a Veterans Hospital that was scheduled to be shut down by budget cuts.

Flags Lead the charge to get EVERYBODY in town to fly a flag on the 11th. Start hoarding them now and pass them out en masse starting the weekend before.

Lots Of Flags One of the stations did The Healing Field where they filled a lawn at a courthouse with 3213 flags. All on six foot poles. So to wander through them gave you a sense of being lost in a forest. Huge. Jamz in Birmingham filled a park with 3213 tiny flags that were stuck in the ground. They also had a giant red, white and blue wreath that people could come and drop a flower on. All of these were delivered to patients in hospitals.

Hill Of Flags I was in LA with Mo from KZIA for 9/11/09 and we drove past the campus of Pepperdine where the whole hillside sweeping down to PCH was covered in flags on poles. The side of the road was a parking lot as people jumped out to take pics.

Cops and Firefighters I think that people forget that these people put their lives on the line every day. 9/11/14 is a chance to honor your local heroes. Bring them lunch. Have them on the air. Do a giant card of thanks for all of their hard work. Foxy in Fayetteville brought lunch to fire stations and police stations in ’09.

Moment Of Silence Lead the charge for a moment of silence in your market. Wherever and whatever people are doing at 8:46 am, have them stop and pause to remember those who lost their lives.

Candles Just about every station did a candlelight vigil. This might be the time to do it with 3245 people in a stadium. With the lights out. Or use xyalume light sticks. Might look even cooler on TV.

Charities Following 9/11, American opened up their veins and pocket books and gave generously to the NYC relief effort. Unfortunately, this impacted the 98% of national charities and organizations that aren’t huge groups like the United Way and Red Cross. Find 10 or 12 worthy local community charities in your market that are struggling, and starting at 8:46 am, do a 24 hour event to raise funds for them.

The Spirit Of Volunteering That was something that happened after the attacks. People helped people. Anyway they could. Power 96 in Miami, KDWB in Minneapolis and KKMG in Colorado Springs all had lists of local agencies needing volunteers, on their station websites.

Scrolling Names Talk about impactful. Power in Miami had a continually scrolling list of the names of the victims on their site in 2010. An amazing visual.

Where Were You Some of the best Radio I ever heard was when Power 106 in LA opened up the phones and let people talk during the Rodney King riots. Maybe drop the music for the morning and let people talk about how this has affected them, and tell where they were and how they felt when they heard about the attack. The Zone in Chicago did this and the phones melted. Everyone had a story to share.

Headlights Encourage people to drive with their headlights on all day on the 11th.

White Ribbons Encourage everyone to wear them on their arms and/or tie them to their car antennas on the 11th.

A Card For The Troops V-103 in Atlanta had a giant card that people came and signed, and this was shipped over to a unit in the Middle East. People could also drop off care packages of necessities that were then forwarded to servicemen and woman.

Psychiatrists Leading up to the 11th, get a mental health professional on the air to talk about post-traumatic stress syndrome and other results of the attacks.

Imaging September 11th by cprpromo | Free Listening on SoundCloud

Re-Doing Your Website Z-100 in Portland did something that was great. They replaced the website with a giant waving flag. And something like “In Memory Of The Lost.” Simple. But very impactful. Any time you mess with your website, it gets people’s attention. It tells that that this is very out-of-the-ordinary.

We’re 90 days out but I wouldn’t wait until the last minute to start planning.