Program Policies

Click on a link below to learn about our program policies:

General
Calendar
Interviews
PSA

General Programming Philosophy

WUMB radio's primary business is public service radio programming. Public service programming demands that a significant audience be served by significant programming. Programs and songs will be selected and will be maintained on WUMB' broadcast stations because they attract listeners. A consistent criterion is applied in the selection of all programming and program elements in order to gain a significant audience. While this criterion can’t be measured like the number of CD's on a shelf or counted like listeners, it most certainly can be assessed through the judgements of individuals. If we know what we’re listening for, we’ll know when we hear it, and we’ll know it when one show, or song has it and another doesn’t. There are four major elements to our criteria: high production quality, respect for the subject and the listener, intelligence of presentation and depth of treatment.

Calendar

• All music calendar listings for weekdays programs must be coordinated and scheduled through the music calendar coordinator. Weekday announcers are not allowed to add or change the music calendar listings. Submit you calendar listings here
• Each weekend announcer coordinates his/her own music calendar listings if one is scheduled. The following weekend shows run weekly music calendars: Celtic Twilight, Traditional Folk, Folk Odyssey.
• All weekend music calendar announcements must be in writing, and sent to the attention of the appropriate weekend announcer two weeks in advance of the performance date. Please fax your listing to: (617) 287-6916 or mail to WUMB Radio, UMass Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA 02125.
• The event must be located within 30 miles of any of WUMB's broadcast signal areas.
• Listings must be by artists that are currently being programmed on the designated WUMB show that the calendar announcement will air. An exception to this policy is if the program director deems that the listing might of interest to a significant portion of the targeted audience. The decision of the program director is final.

Music Interviews

All music interviews requests must be coordinated and scheduled through the music interview coordinator or program director. Announcers are not allowed to schedule his/her own interviews. There is no exception to this policy.

All interviews must conform to the following, unless otherwise approved by the program director:

• Times: 9 am, 12 noon, 6 pm
• Length: 20-25 minutes
• Format: Approximately 5 minutes of talk/5 minutes music, up to a maximum of a 20 minute interview.
• Performer(s) must have at least three songs being played in the designated show music data base in order to request an interview.
• Performers must wait at least two months after an on-air appearance before requesting an additional interview on any WUMB show.
• Performers of interest to the most significant portion of our audience will be approved ahead of others.
• Performers who have not appeared on the WUMB airwaves before, or who appear less frequently will be approved ahead of others.
• Performers may request, or be directed to be interviewed on a weekend show when more appropriate.
• Live music must be performed by the artist(s) during the interview unless otherwise approved by the program director in advance.
• Only one interview will be approved in support of any particular event.
• All non-musician interviews (poets, storytellers, festival organizers, etc) must be cleared by the program director and will only be approved for the 6pm time slot or on a weekend show.

PSA

WUMB has approximately 70 spots/week for public service announcements. Each week, an average of eight new public service announcements will be selected, and placed into a rotation of PSA's to be aired that week. Most PSA's will run for two weeks, randomly throughout our schedule.

• All public service announcements must be in writing, and sent to the attention of the Public Service Announcement (PSA) Coordinator. Please do not contact other WUMB staff about PSA's.
• You should always be sure to include a one sentence description of your organization, as well as the name and contact number of someone we can call in the event we need additional information - this number will not be given to listeners. Also, if it's an event, you should include the day, date, time of the event, if there is an admission charge, and please be sure to include a phone number we can use in the announcement if our listeners want to call you themselves for more information.
• You can e-mail PSA's to: wumb@umb.edu or fax them to: (617) 287-6916. If you use e-mail, please do not send along an attached file. Just include the information in the body of the e-mail. We will not open an attached file. Our mailing address is: WUMB Radio, UMass Boston, 100 Morrissey Blvd, Boston, MA, 02125-3393.
• PSA's should be submitted no less than two weeks prior to an event
• PSA's which appear to be of interest to the largest number of targeted listeners will be selected from those submitted
• The organization or event being promoted must be non-profit
• If the PSA is about an event, the event promoted must be open to our entire audience, which includes listeners in Boston, Worcester, Cape Cod and Newburyport, as well as those who listen world-wide through the internet.
• UMass Boston events will receive first preference

The following is not allowed:

• Fundraising messages for any organization
• PSA's for any political organizations, or in support for or against any ballot questions

All PSA’s must be approved by the program director before airing. The decision of the program director regarding the selection of all public service announcements is final.

As a result of the large volume of PSA's we receive each week, we are not able to answer inquiries about whether or not we received your announcement, or if we intend to air a particular announcement. Please do not call to follow up on your mailing.

General
Calendar
Interviews
PSA