WAMU 88.5 Day Sponsor Policy

Your Day Sponsorship

Submit your day sponsorship request

Frequently Asked Questions

Day Sponsorship FAQ

When to act to reserve your day…

Donors who contribute $720 and greater are entitled to sponsor one day of programs on WAMU. The donor will receive three on-air credits for their personal message on a single day. WAMU staff will make every effort to accommodate the donor’s Day Sponsorship date request. However, due to the popularity of the Day Sponsorship program, donors are encouraged to reserve their preferred date as early as possible. Dates must be requested at least 14 calendar days in advance to ensure adequate production time.

Donors who are eligible for more than one Day Sponsorship are requested not to reserve consecutive days.

Donors should redeem Day Sponsorships within one year of making his or her qualifying contribution.

Who is eligible?

Day Sponsorships are a form of special recognition only available to individual donors.

Requests for Day Sponsorships as a result of a contribution or grant by individual family foundations will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Businesses and corporations are not eligible for Day Sponsorship recognition. Persons interested in on-air messages for marketing or public relations purposes are encouraged to contact Anthony Hayes, WAMU’s Director of Corporate Marketing at 202-885-1248 or ahayes@wamu.org.

Day Sponsorships are non-transferable and may not be donated to a third party.

Anonymous Day Sponsorships are not acceptable.

The details…

Messages must conform to FCC rules and station policy. WAMU's Day Sponsorship format consists of an opening statement and the donor’s message. The opening statement is typically: "Today's programs are made possible in part by” immediately followed by the first and last name of the person or persons who made the contribution.

Day Sponsorship messages may be a maximum of 15 seconds long when read in an even and unhurried manner.

Credits may be a simple statement of sponsorship, e.g. “Today’s programs are made possible in part by Thomas Jones” or may include a dedication line, e.g. “Today’s programs are made possible in part by Thomas Jones, in celebration of Elizabeth Jones’ birthday.”

It’s all about your personal message…

Day Sponsorships must be personal in nature. They may not include promotional, commercial or controversial messages of any kind. Language referencing political campaigns, candidacies, religious convictions or legislation will not be accepted.

Acceptable Day Sponsorship messages should be easily understood. Inside jokes and messages only meaningful to the member that may not be understood or could be misinterpreted by the greater audience should be avoided.

Messages must be written in the third-person and cannot include first-person personal pronouns (I, me, we, us, etc).

About recognizing nonprofit organizations and events in your Day Sponsorship…

Day Sponsorships may be used to recognize nonprofit organizations, but messages may not be promotional in nature. Messages may be either a simple statement of support or an appreciation of the people behind the organization (staff, volunteers, etc). They may not include descriptive or qualitative information or include any statement that implies a “call to action” from our listening audience (requesting others to contribute, volunteer, etc). Contact information (addresses, phone numbers or web addresses) or mission statements are not appropriate for inclusion in Day Sponsorship messages.

WAMU will consider Day Sponsorship messages that mention nonprofit events on a case-by-case basis.* Because Day Sponsorship messages must be personal in nature, messages may recognize the people responsible for an event’s success – such as volunteers, staff or performers – but should not be considered a vehicle for promotion. Dates, times or the street address of venues or events may not be included in such messages. Individuals who wish to promote nonprofit, community, or cultural events are encouraged to submit a Public Service Announcement. WAMU’s Public Service Announcement policy is available online at http://wamu.org/calendar/psas/. Individuals seeking to promote cultural events may also send their listing to ArtBeat@wamu.org to be considered for Art Beat, WAMU’s daily one-minute on-air update on arts and cultural events in the DC region.

*Such events must be owned, organized, or presented by a 501(c) (3) nonprofit organization. WAMU reserves the right to request a copy of the IRS determination letter from nonprofit organizations or nonprofit venues before messages are approved for broadcast.

WAMU reserves the right of final approval for all Day Sponsorship messages.

After you submit your message…

You can expect to receive a confirmation within approximately ten days after receipt. At that time your Day Sponsorship date will be confirmed (or an alternate date will be offered) and we will provide the times your message is scheduled to be read on the air. Please be sure to include an e-mail address and a daytime phone number with your Day Sponsorship message so we may contact you.

Please remember, it is live radio…

We do everything possible to make sure your message airs as scheduled. However, occasionally messages are missed or the time a message airs may vary slightly from its scheduled time. To ensure that you hear your message, be sure to tune in at least 10 minutes before the scheduled read time. In the event that your message is missed, please contact Melanie McCarty, Day Sponsorship Coordinator, at 202-885-1238 or mmccarty@wamu.org to reschedule. On weekdays we can often make-up the missed read later in the day.

Examples of acceptable Day Sponsorship messages on WAMU 88.5:

Today’s programs are made possible in part by…

…Buddy Glass, in memory of Seymour Glass.

…Max Fischer, in celebration of Margaret Yang’s birthday.

…Ray and Carol Watergill, congratulating Pete and Sue Sullivan as they begin their life together.

…Bill Compton, in honor of the dedicated staff and volunteers of The American Red Cross.

         …Beth Wilson, in recognition of the volunteers for the DC International Film Festival, who work     
             at the Avalon Theatre and other locations.

Submitting your Sponsorship request
To submit your Day Sponsorship request, please send an e-mail message to mmccarty@wamu.org.
Please include your first and last name, mailing address, phone number, e-mail address, your requested Day Sponsorship date and the text you would like us to read on the air.
Please note, all Day Sponsorship messages must conform to our standard format: they must begin "Today's Programs are Made Possible in Part by (name)" followed by a brief personal message.
Day Sponsorship requests may also be faxed to 202-885-1287, or may be phoned in to 202-885-1252. If you have any questions, please feel free to call Melanie McCarty, WAMU 88.5 Day Sponsorship Coordinator at 202-885-1238.