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Public Radio Partners (PRP) is a privately owned business
providing outsourced underwriting sales departments to public broadcasting
stations. In calendar year 2006 PRP generated over $10 million in
underwriting revenue for its client stations.
- KJZZ & KBAQ – Phoenix
- KPLU – Seattle
- WPLN – Nashville
- KUT – Austin
- KXPR & KXJZ –- Sacramento
- Rocky Mountain PBS
Over the past 2 years, we have further enhanced our
performance management system to enable additional growth through
consultation services.
Many of PRP’s sales systems and marketing approaches
are built upon research generated from PRI’s Public Radio
Underwriting Partnership (PRUP). Backed by a grant from the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting in 1997, the PRUP mission was to discover
those best practices of commercial broadcasters that could possibly
increase public radio underwriting. A strict project requisite was
that any underwriting gains could not compromise the letter and
spirit of the public radio environment.
Nominated to spearhead the project was Jim Taszarek,
Sr., a veteran, successful commercial broadcaster. Throughout 1997-1999
Taszarek ("Taz") visited ten stations that had been pre-selected
in the CPB grant. After six-months of both intense study and meetings
with scores of station personnel, he produced a series of recommendations
and workshops that were projected to increase local corporate contributions.
The results were so successful that one CPB official noted that
it was "some of the best money CPB ever spent".
One of the beta stations in PRUP, was KJZZ/KBAQ. In 1999, General
Manager Carl Matthusen sought further corporate underwriting increases,
and chose an innovative tactic. He outsourced the sales function
to Jim Taszarek, Jr., and so began a partnership that hiked underwriting
revenues for Phoenix Public Radio 50% in the first two years.
The relationship gave Public Radio Partners its name,
so-to-speak, and a reputation that piqued interest from other public
radio stations to explore similar outsourced sales arrangements.
- 2001 Nevada Public Radio
- 2002 KPLU Seattle
- 2002 WPLN Nashville
- 2003 KUT Austin
- 2005 Capital Public Radio Sacramento
- 2006 Rocky Mountain PBS
- 2006 Cincinnati Public Radio
- 2007 Twin Cities Public Television
- 2008 Georgia Public Broadcasting
Other stations have realized the advantages of PRP’s
sales and performance management systems through consultation with
principals Jim Taszarek, Jr. and
Kirk Nelson.
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PRINCIPAL
BIOS