McHenry County College wanted to have its own radio station broadcasting from the aerial seen on the right above. Having failed to get that off the ground, the board is planning to buy ads on DeKalb Public Radio.
I listen to NPR, but only when I get out of range of Chicago’s WBEZ do I switch to the NIU station in DeKalb. I have to be pretty close to Rockford not to be able to hear WBEZ.
Now comes word in the McHenry County College Board meeting packet for Thursday night’s meeting the following information:
405 radio ads will be purchased for $10,620 from WNIU. They will run over a 45-week period. There are other benefits in the package as well.
The goal is to create “positive brand awareness,” “to positively influenc(e) the public perception of the college, a key marketing objective for FY 2012.”
Unlike the memo recommending that $29,400 be spent on radio ads at Star 105.5, the memo concerning the DeKalb public radio station has not listening audience numbers.
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If you listen to public radio, please tell readers in a comment below to which station you listen.
What is all this stupid chatter about “branding”? MCC is not Sears, Roebuck! It’s a community college. It’s not Harvard, not Yale, not M.I.T. It’s MCC!
The public had wake up pretty fast and start attending Board meetings and telling the Board members what it will tolerate and what it will not. If enough members of the public show up often enough, the tide will turn back toward sensibility.
If a radio ad persuades an individual to go to a certain college then they are not college material to begin with and are a complete waste of the taxpayers money. My college decision was based on fact finding, statistics, and curriculum. What are they going to do next…run a “laptop with every diploma” promotion?