 |
Loretta Rucker at Las Vegas Urban Chamber of Commerce
|
|
KCEP Partnership with Local Chamber:
A Model for Public Radio Stations
On September 27th, radio station KCEP (Las Vegas) in partnership with the Las Vegas Urban Chamber of Commerce, staged an event that put the spotlight on the value of local businesses sponsoring public radio.
KCEP's General Manager Craig Knight and Shaundell Newsome, Board Secretary of the Las Vegas Urban Chamber invited Loretta Rucker, Executive Director of the AAPRC to be the Keynote Speaker at a Chamber luncheon.
The purpose was to educate businesses about the role of African-American public radio stations like KCEP in the industry, and in their communities. More pointedly, it was to lay out for businesses the creative partnerships that they can have with public radio, and the value of being exposed to our audiences as a marketing strategy.
The event was a part of an ongoing collaboration that KCEP's General Manager Craig Knight initiated with the Chamber over a year ago. As a result, the Chamber has made the promotion of KCEP a part of its agenda. Together the two organizations planned this event to announce the installation of the Chamber's new President, and to feature an African-American public radio representative that could put local station KCEP into a national context.
|
 | |
Craig Knight at the Las Vegas Urban Chamber of Commerce
|
|
Local media, local businesses and entrepreneurs - as well as community empowerment organizations such as the Urban League were invited to attend. The Chamber's Board Members were also present, as was the Marketing and Operations team of KCEP. Other speakers included Craig Knight KCEP's General Manager and Chamber Board Member, Napoleon McCallum the Chamber's Board Chair, and the newly installed President, Kenneth C. Evans.
This model can be duplicated by other stations in markets throughout the country.
There is great synergy between organizations seeking local business empowerment and our mission in public radio to empower our communities. Providing businesses with relevant statistics, examples and historical context helps leaders re-imagine the community engagement opportunities we can offer them in public media. Business leaders left the event with a healthy respect for the uniqueness of listeners that we reach, and the collaborative spirit we embrace in public media.
Please join us in congratulating KCEP's Craig Knight on the success of this event. We also thank the Las Vegas Urban Chamber of Commerce for the leadership they have shown in communicating the value of public radio to the business community.
For information about building similar collaborations between public radio stations and Chambers of Commerce please feel free to contact Craig Knight at KCEP in Las Vegas, or contact Loretta Rucker at the AAPRC.
____________________________________________________
The AAPRC Programming Service is Made Possible by NPR Distribution and the
Public Radio Satellite System
 
|
