Schools Closed

Touch base with school administrators before the start of the school year and arrange for your station to be listed in back-to-school packets as the station to tune to for school closure information. You can take this even further by advertising in local newspapers as the “Official School Closure Station, if other stations in your area havent already claimed this position.

All Work And No Play

Invite listeners to write in and enter names of those who have to work on Labor Day for prize drawings. Throughout Labor Day, have your jocks draw names from the entriesif the person whose name is drawn is listening to your station, they can call in and claim their prize.

Back To School “Fashion Show

Arrange for your station to hold a Back To School Fashion Show in reverse at a local mall. Ask students to come dressed in their worst outfit, modeling their sloppiest clothes. The person most in need wins a new wardrobe.

An Apple For the Teacher

Beginning in September, hold a “Teacher of the Month promotion. Provide a nomination form to be handed out to all students on the first day of class. Throughout the school year, if parents see their kids teachers doing something out of the ordinary, they can nominate them by sending the ballot in to the station. Have local community leaders judge the monthly entries, and award a plaque, dinner gift certificate and other prizes to the winning teacher. At the end of the school year host a dinner with the winners from the entire year, along with their families and the judges. This promotion can also be done with other public employees like firefighters, nurses and police officers.

Back To Campus

If your station is located in a college town, remember that there can be hundreds — even thousands — of new students starting school in the fall who may not be familiar with your station. Hold a “Back To Campus week and set up a booth on campus during the first week of school where students can sign up to win a new stereo system. If youre really visible those first few days, hopefully the students will stick with your station the rest of the year. Work with local retailers that cater to college students for this promo.

Labor Day Pains

Hold a Labor Day promotion for mothers whose due date is around Labor Day. To be eligible for the contest, a mother must register with your station by mail, fax or phone before September 1. On Labor Day, send one of your jocks to nearby hospitals to see which “registered mothers show up. The first one to deliver wins the grand prize. Prizes can be from local mother/baby-related sponsors.

School Days Memories

Work with a local mall or shopping center to promote back-to-school items. Contact all the merchants in the mall about radio advertising schedules and the promotion. Ask each merchant to contribute an item to combine in a grand prize back-to-school package: clothing, computer and school supplies, file cabinets, books, and a microwave oven for a dorm room. Prior to the giveaway enter the names of students who call in and give the correct answer to trivia questions in a drawing for the grand prize package.

Drive Back to School

Stage a competition between local area high schools in a food and clothing drive to help the needy. Give each participating high school on-air recognition, and invite student body presidents to come to your station and give progress reports. Place large ‘thermometers tracking progress in each school. Award the winning school a pizza feed and a dance put on by one of your DJs.

Great Station Coverage

Design book covers with your stations logo on them and ask local merchants at a nearby mall or shopping center to hand them out during their back-to-school sales. Create a “cover contest by printing numbers on the book covers. Call out a number on the air during morning drive. The person with the matching number has X minutes to call in and win a prize. Merchants provide prizes and get logos on the covers, too. A suggestion: broadcast winning numbers when your targets arent in class.

Something for Young and Old

Here are two back-to-school ideas for two different demos: 1. For the younger audience: With football season just around the corner, students will be looking for some post-game fun. Sponsor an After-Game Dance at the nearby high school gym. Station personalities can host the event, you can give away station paraphernalia, and names can be drawn for prizes. If you have more than one high school in your area, find a location to make it a city-wide event. 2. For the older audience: September is also back-to-school time for parents! Reward grownups who survived the summer with fun morning contests like “The biggest mess my child(ren) got in this summer, “The worst thing that happened on our familys vacation or “How I kept my child(ren) entertained this summer. Have listeners call in with their stories, then morning personalities (or other listeners) can vote on the best or most creative responses. Record, edit and play back the best tales. Give away dinners for two or movie passes to reward those hard working parents!

Dressing Up

As summer draws to a close, kids thoughts will be focused on one back-to- school necessity: clothes, clothes, clothes. For a great cross-promotion, tie in with a local clothing or department store and invite your listeners to enter their names in drawings for $10, $25, $50 or $100 gift certificatesor a grand prize drawing for a $500 shopping spree. The outlet can offer you free merchandising space and should always be playing your station during business hours. You can return the favor by promoting the store as the place to enter the contest and theyll appreciate the additional foot traffic and on-air mentions.

From B to A

As you start to think about back-to-school promotions, a just-before-school-starts report card challenge might make waves in your town. Challenge all students in your community to improve their grades from first to second quarter with a reward for the best or most improved grade point average. You can give prizes to individual students, or to an entire school based on grades.