Why Underwrite With Us?
We are a Class-A radio station with a 25-mile broadcast radius around Amherst and a popular streamcast site. We are students and community members working on-air and behind the scenes to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have been on air for more than 60 years!
WMUA continues to be voted Best College Radio Station by the Valley Advocate Readers Poll and provides an alternative form of programming that can't be heard anywhere else. We play just about everything on the musical spectrum, from jazz, rock, and blues, world, hip-hop, and electronic, to polka, bluegrass, and folk. We also have a variety of public affairs programs, as well as robust and Associated Press award-winning News and Sports departments.
Our loyal listening audience is as wide and diverse as our programming, ranging from students in the Five College system and their friends and families, to community members in and around the Valley, to a dedicated international audience. With an ever-expanding influence on the student body and our constant work to be further involved in the community, you can be sure that your business's message and generosity will reach a broad base of interested listeners. By partnering with WMUA, your business demonstrates a commitment to the community and active sponsorship of thoughtful alternative media and education.
What Is Underwriting?
As a non-profit radio station, WMUA does not air paid advertisements. We do, however, thank businesses for the tax-deductible donations they make to the station with short, 15-30 second on-air acknowledgements.
Each announcement is considered to sponsor 30 minutes of programming. WMUA does not air more than 1 underwriting announcement every half hour. Your business’s message will not be ignored by listeners, as is the case on many other stations.
The FCC permits these underwriting acknowledgements to include:
- Logograms or slogans which identify but do not promote
- Information about the location of the underwriter
- Value-neutral description of a product line or service
- Brand/trade names and product or service listings
They cannot include:
- Comparative or qualitative descriptions
- Price information
- Calls to action or inducements to buy
Sample Underwriting Announcement
"This program is made possible by listeners like you and by Collective Copies Print Shop. Located on South Pleasant Street in Amherst as well as on Main Street in Florence, Collective Copies offers high-resolution digital reproduction and finishing services. A worker-owned, union shop since 1983, Collective Copies donates 10 percent of its profits each year to the community. WMUA thanks Collective Copies for their kind support."
Underwriting Prices
All packages listed are tax deductible and priced on a monthly basis. Feel free to donate either one month at a time or for a longer duration of your choice. 6-month and year-long packages will receive a 15% discount.
If you have another request for an underwriting package - fewer mentions, more mentions, partial month, airtime with a specific genre of music or a favorite DJ - contact the Finance Director at finance@wmua.org. They will be happy to help figure out the best solution!
Sports
| 3 mentions per week | $100 | |
| 6 mentions per week | $200 | |
| Broadcast Underwriting | $300 | (Fall) |
| (negotiable for middle of semester) | $400 | (Spring) |
General Music Programming
| 6 mentions per week | $200 |
| 10 mentions per week | $300 |
*This covers the majority of our programming. For a list of DJ’s, show times or show descriptions, email finance@wmua.org
Syndicated Democracy Now Programming
| 1 mention per week | $80 |
If add-on to another package: $55
WMUAx
WMUAx is a brand new online stream to compliment WMUA 91.1 FM. This means that our advertisements aired will be very cheap for sponsors. Spots will still be 30-45 seconds, and can be aired during specific programming. Individual spots can be purchased starting at the low price of $5 per aired advertisement. These ads can feature slogans that promote, the location of the sponsor, price information, inducement’s to buy and many other things that underwriting’s may not feature. Purchasing spots on WMUAx gives sponsors an incredible opportunity to push their message out in the community at a low-price that you will not see anywhere else. These packages can be combined with underwriting packages on 91.1 FM, for an even greater discount on both underwriting’s and paid advertisements.