Public Service Announcements

KZSU accepts public service announcements (PSAs) from nonprofit organizations to be broadcast to our listeners. During normal music programming, DJs make 2 public service announcements per hour, though the precise selection of messages is up to the DJ.

Submission Methods

The best way to submit your announcements is in written format. We love receiving written PSAs through email because it saves typing. You can email them to [email protected].

We can handle prerecorded announcements, but these take additional time to prepare for our environment (digital cart). We can handle PSAs on CDs, but there is presently no procedure for cataloging and tracking them in our studio.

If desired, announcements can be sent to KZSU through traditional postal mail. Please address these to:

Public Affairs Department
KZSU
P.O. Box 20190
Stanford, CA 94309

Please do not send us PSAs via fax. They tend to get jumbled with junk faxes, and the Public Affairs staff sees them three weeks after they arrive, if we're lucky.

General Guidelines

• KZSU is a strictly noncommercial station. We are not allowed to announce prices or admission fees on the air. However, it's OK to say when nonprofit goods or services are free. KZSU cannot promote any profit-making concerns.
• Your info should include who, what, where, when, why and how, as applicable. (Obvious, but a surprising number of folks forget critical elements). Please include a telephone number so radio listeners know where to get details.
• You should make it clear whether an announcement has a "kill" date, or if it is to be ongoing.
• Usually, a PSA script should take no longer than 30 seconds to read in a clear, deliberate manner. Many of the scripts we receive claim "30 seconds", but are actually longer. These are less likely to be processed by the Public Affairs volunteers, since they may need editing; scripts that we edit may inadvertantly leave out your most important points. Also remember that long-blathering DJs will cause listeners to tune out!
• If your information will take more than 30 seconds to present, consider splitting a major point or two into an additional PSA script. Shorter scripts are welcome, since DJs often need to fill short bits of time to pace out their shows. If there are special notes regarding pronunciation (e.g., some groups don't like their acronyms pronounced as words) be sure to include a note.
• URLs to Web sites are OK, as long as they are short, easy to pronounce, and easy to understand when heard. Remember, these will be read live over the air.
• Please send PSA scripts as plain ASCII text in the body of the message (please no attachments). This is easier for us to handle than HTML, Microsoft Word or other formats (and it doesn't transmit viruses). Remember, the harder it is for us to process your PSA, the less likely it will be added to our PSA bank.
• The PSAs that are read during a show are entirely at each DJ's discretion. KZSU cannot promise how often your announcement will be presented.

Style and Consistency

• We find that standard English captialization and punctuation is easiest for us to read.
• Please write numbers as digits. We greatly prefer "June 17" to "June seventeenth".
• Please write telephone numbers as (aaa) ddd-dddd. You did remember to include the area code, didn't you? Remember, there are listeners in 650, 408, 415, 510, 925, and 707, not to mention Internet listeners who could be anywhere.
• Spelling telephone numbers as words is cute, but many people prefer to dial numerals, rather than taking the time to figure out what (WOW) KZSU-ROX means. Please provide your PSA scripts with the phone number in both alphabetic and numeric forms.
• Please note the length of the PSA script, rounded to the nearest 5 second increment. (See note above regarding maximum script length).
• When composing PSA scripts, avoid first person pronouns such as "we" or "our". When a KZSU DJ reads such words, they refer to KZSU, not your organization.
  wrong: Come to our open house on Saturday, noon to 5 pm.
  right: Come to the Society's open house on Saturday, noon to 5 pm.

Additional Notes

• Your announcement has best chance of exposure if you plan for it to air for at least 2 weeks. If possible, submit PSAs no less than 3 weeks before the requested kill date.
• If you have a Stanford affiliation, so be sure that "Stanford" appears somewhere in the "Subject:" header so KZSU volunteers can give it priority over the other messages we receive.
• Be sure to mention if certain events or services are limited to Stanford students or community members, since KZSU's signal reaches points all around the Bay Area.