The Federal Bureau of Investigation wants to be able to communicate fast with citizens in America’s largest urban areas. Its avenue of choice: Radio One (and a number of faith-based and community organizations). In the event of a disaster, the FBI is counting on Radio One to quickly get information out to local residents, and the fact that perennial target Washington DC is Radio One’s home market is certainly a factor. Radio One’s urban-themed cable outlet, TV One, is also part of the package.
The FBI wrote, “Radio One is one of the nation’s largest radio broadcasting companies and the largest radio broadcaster with programming oriented toward the African-American community. Radio One owns 70 radio stations in 16 urban markets in the United States. The FBI will be able to swiftly communicate information to listeners and community leaders in the event of a significant incident. This partnership helps us communicate with more than 750,000 members in various organizations, plus the 18 million listeners and viewers of Radio One and its affiliate TV One.
Radio One was preceded in this program by NAACP, the Urban League, and the Southern Poverty Law Center.
RBR/TVBR observation: It’s not every day a media company has the FBI publicizing what otherwise would be typical PR corporate boilerplate material. Radio One’s much more talented creative professionals should be able to make some fine corporate hay out of this prestigious relationship.
