Noncommercial radio icon NPR was able to provide an inducement to donate during pledge drives in New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Boston – automatic entry in a travel sweepstakes offered by online agency Vayama.com.
The stations involved in the agreement include KQED San Francisco, WNYC New York City, WBUR Boston, and WBEZ Chicago.
Vayama says its scope is international, and lucky winners can receive prizes such as airfare and accommodations at destinations across the globe. Others may win vouchers for $1K-$2K that can be spent at the agency’s website.
“As an international travel company we support and agree with NPR’s objective to provide its audience with a deeper understanding and appreciation of ideas and cultures worldwide,” said Thomas Kent, vice president of marketing at Vayama.com. “We are thrilled to be working with NPR and hope the international travel prizes we are offering encourage people to donate to the organization so they can continue their mission to deliver the most important stories and insights happening worldwide.”
RBR-TVBR observation: We suspect we will be seeing ever more creative ways to generate cash coming from the noncom community. It may even be possible for commercial broadcasters to appropriate some of them.
And we’re all for anything that keeps public broadcasting from slowly migrating to some form of advertising-supported model – the last thing commercial broadcasters need is more competition, especially from an entity in the same exact medium.
