More of the Regular Programming You Love
When we think about what makes public media and SDPB different from other news and entertainment sources, the answer is always YOU! Our members, listeners, and viewers helped shape SDPB into what it is today. As a way of showing our appreciation for your dedication throughout the years, we have revamped how we have done on-air fundraising over the last year. We wanted to focus more on the programs you already love and connecting to SDPB’s mission, and with that has come more attention during our fundraising drives on things South Dakotans care about – local documentaries and news, high school sports and activities, and in-person and virtual events.
Radio
In FY24, we changed the cadence of our radio drives. Instead of two 5-day drives and one 3 day drive, we now conduct five 2-3 day drives, to include a Saturday or two. This means you get to hear more local, national, and international news throughout the year. We continue to leverage match funds from donors to increase the enthusiasm for supporting SDPB.
TV
While we have not shorted the number of days we are on-air fundraising on TV, you may have noticed a big difference in how those days look and sound. Instead of loading the TV schedule with national pledge programming, we are keeping our normal schedule as much as possible, meaning during the week you can still catch Nature, PBS News Hour, Antiques Roadshow and Dakota Life. We focus our fundraising breaks to be 90 seconds at the top of each hour, and coordinate those breaks with 2-minute screen updates that display our daily goal, donations so far, and special messaging thanking donors. It actually replicates how radio drives function.
Events
With the changes in on-air pledge drives, we have also focused our attention on creating and promoting virtual events to allow all our members, listeners, and viewers across the state to participate. You may have seen or heard promotion for a Bob Ross Paint night that happened on Oct 29th. We are also expecting to be able to hold another Rick Steves Wine Tasting Night later this winter. We hope you can take join us for one of these great virtual events.