Public Education Partnership Program

The OAB’s Public Education Partnership (PEP) program is the only one of its kind in Ohio, providing government agencies and non-profit organizations with an opportunity distribute important educational messages or calls-to-action to radio and television stations across the state.  Each year, approximately 250 radio and television stations serving communities across the state participate in OAB PEP campaigns, providing valuable airtime for these campaigns and reaching Ohioans in large and small communities around the state.

The program is best suited for non-profit organizations and government agencies with public education campaigns for which they have some promotional budget, but not enough funds to buy sustained statewide coverage on radio and television stations.

How the PEP Program Works

• A sponsoring organization provides the OAB with a master copy of the spots for its campaign. Campaigns should have statewide relevance and should educate Ohioans on issues of significance or urge citizens to take action to protect themselves and their families.
• The OAB duplicates and distributes the campaign spots to all radio and television stations in the state and requests that stations air the spots a minimum number of times during the campaign.  Although we cannot control placement of spots, stations generally rotate spots across all dayparts.
• Participating stations submit affidavits to the OAB indicating number of times they aired the spots and the approximate value of the airtime.
• The OAB compiles a report for the sponsor detailing the participating stations and their city, the number of times the spots were aired, and the approximate value of this airtime.
• The sponsoring organization pays a fee to the OAB and our goal is to provide a return on the sponsor’s investment of at least $3 for every $1 invested. In many cases, we deliver a higher return.

Station participation in the OAB’s PEP program is voluntary and stations do not receive compensation for airing PEP campaign spots. The incentive for stations to participate, however, is that the OAB uses the fees received from the PEP program to underwrite our training seminars and legal resources for members. In 2011,  more than 200 radio stations and more than 60 television stations aired spots for PEP campaigns.

The OAB cannot accept any campaigns for which paid advertising from any media – including radio, television, newspapers, billboards, etc. – is also being used.