Dave Konstantino
Revolution Rock/CJAM 99.1 FM”
revrock.blogspot.com
June 2021
I have been doing my radio program Revolution Rock on CJAM FM for over ten years. Several years back someone mentioned to me that I should look into syndicating as another show at our station (a spoken word program titled Handi Link) recently became syndicated and that felt my show would appeal to other campus/community stations. Years later I decided to give it a try. After I began uploading programs to the Community Radio Exchange website I would check the download logs weekly to see if anyone had been downloading the program. I would reach out to any stations via email to see if, since they downloaded the program, if they might be interested in syndicating. Syndicating through the NCRA was a bit of a challenge at first as it can seem quite daunting, but it requires a lot of patience and persistence. In order to syndicate at other stations, I referenced the list of stations that were looking for content (on the Resources for Syndicating link on the Community Radio Exchange site) and then made a list of potential stations that I thought might be interested in airing a program like mine (Revolution Rock). In addition to this I visited the different campus station websites and looked at their program schedules to see if my program might fit their schedule or if they were looking to fill any time slots with programming. If I had any questions about things on the Exchange site, I contacted the Webmaster on the site. I also exchanged a few emails with CJAM FM’s program director who offered valuable advice.
The next step was emailing certain stations that I thought might be interested in my program. I didn’t contact every station, but maybe 5-7 or about 10-15 in total. Many didn’t respond so I would make note to follow up in a few weeks or even a month later (most stations need at least two weeks minimum, if not more to review proposals for shows). Some got back to me, some didn’t. I also think it is important to mention that some stations that you email might not get back to you and that’s okay. Some stations aren’t looking for a program like yours (this is also a thing to consider when contacting other stations), others are just busy and don’t always have the time to respond. Additionally, while not receiving an email back can be frustrating, it shouldn’t be an excuse to constantly email people if you don’t hear back. If you don’t hear back after an email or two maybe move on. This whole process resulted in Revolution Rock being picked up on seven different campus/community stations, which is still quite a surprising thing for me to say.
ps. A fellow program director advised me that it is a good idea to upload the programs without station IDs/PSAs, so that other stations can add their own.
Thanks, Dave Konstantino
