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10 Questions with ... Sabrina Roach
August 24, 2015
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1. Tell us about your company Brown Paper Tickets.
Seattle-based Brown Paper Tickets is an event ticketing company and a Not-Just-For-Profit social enterprise. Not-Just-For-Profit is a business model focused on building community and relationships instead of profit margins, where everyday commerce fuels an ecosystem for sustainable businesses and communities. Event organizers find everything they need to sell tickets and accept donations at the industry's lowest ticketing fee with 24/7 live customer service and 5% donations of Brown Paper Tickets' profits to causes with every ticket sold. Learn more at http://community.brownpapertickets.com/press.
2. What does the "Doer" role actually entail?
Doers offer hands-on support, pro-bono counsel, leadership, and strategic initiatives for local, national and global communities as ambassadors of Brown Paper Tickets.
Doers are hired to maximize community impact, with no metrics for sales. The Doer Program is one of many Brown Paper Tickets community-impact initiatives.
3. Tell us about your efforts to support non-comm radio and National Radio Day.
I'd been considering ways to raise the visibility of and collaboration between public radio stations across the spectrum -- NPR stations and community radio -- independent of size. They're all mission aligned, but don't necessarily think of themselves as part of the same ecosystem. In 2013, I hosted a National Radio Day event as part of my National Make Radio Challenge to encourage nonprofits to apply for low-power FM. It was a good news peg.
This past July, I mentioned on a listserv that other stations might want to do something similar and interest started pouring in. Thirty stations RSVP'd for the initial planning conference call. We built quickly from there and it's been an exciting collaborative opportunity. Ultimately, 55 non-commercial radio stations and public media support organizations in 35 cities. #NationalRadioDay trended on Twitter with 22K tweets.
4. Are the 30 stations participating this year all LPFMs?
Participants are a mix of NPR, full-power community radio, and low-power stations. I purposefully didn't label what kind of station is one was because one of my goals is to blur those lines.
5. How are they collaborating with their local communities?
Many are hosting events and broadcasting live special programming. As this is the first time National Radio Day is being celebrated coast to coast, next year everyone will have more planning time and I'm sure the events and special programming will be even bigger.
6. How are they collaborating with each other?
They are participating in a radio relay and sharing promos and Sonic IDs (30-to-60-second vignettes that foster a sense of place and delight).
7. You are based in Seattle - what are the plans there with this campaign?
We're hosting an event in partnership with The Seattle Public Library to shine a spotlight on the seven new neighborhood low-power FM stations in Seattle. Local youth will produce a live broadcast and we'll light up a radio tower art piece.
8. What kind of future do you see for LPFMs in the radio landscape?
They'll innovate content and allow new talent to get their sea-legs. Unlike existing full-power stations that got on the air before the digital age, these new stations can be "digital first." One LPFM I work with -- that's further along than the others -- put out a call for program proposals a couple months ago. They got over 50 back, many of them "shovel ready" for podcasting and digital distribution before they even get on the air. All they have to do is provide the tools and training, and grow a community of producers who help each other hone their craft.
9. What do you view as the most important issue facing all of radio today?
Finding the creativity to reach people who have many listening choices and hold their attention.
10. Fill in the blank: I can't make it through the day without ...
... my iPhone loaded with Evernote, podcasts, and my local public radio stations apps.
Bonus Questions
What is the one truth that has held constant throughout your career?
Be generous and gracious. It makes all the difference.
What non-profit or charity events do you like to support?
I support media and civic engagement projects that focus on youth leadership development. It's the best way I know how to make sure tomorrow is better than today.
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