At 03:39 PM 2/26/2006, Mark N9WYS wrote:
>Gary,
>
>... the real story of amateur involvement in the Katrina ordeal has been
>lost to the masses - at least in my part of the country.
>
>Just my 2¢ worth...
My appreciation to the list for tolerating this off-topic thread. Perhaps
one or two list members will be prompted to learn about the PR efforts that
already exist and do something themselves to help. It takes time to do
more than peck off a post to a mailing list, but it's worth it.
Here's some background and answers to the questions that flew by:
Ham radio gets its biggest PR push from Field Day. Katrina may have been
even bigger for us. But that doesn't mean EVERYONE saw it, remembered it,
and appreciated it. THAT kind of recognition is reserved for a story as
big as the hurricane itself, not our sidebar participation. Most ham PR is
local. We see very little coverage on the ABC/CBS/NBC nightly news, or in
the Time/Newsweek magazines. CNN and Fox have carried some ham
stories. Delta's In-Flight magazine just had a great article on hams and
Katrina.
PSAs are free, but most stations run them at 2 AM, if they run them at
all. The ARRL has PSA's available for you to try to place in your local
media. It's worth a shot, even at 2 AM. www.arrl.org/pio.
The ARRL has a new campaign in the works that's still being developed, so I
can't say much about it yet. When it's released, it will take your help to
get it spread around in your area.
I'm tempted to lecture here because it's fun and expected:
Does your area have a PIO?
Do you know who he/she is? What they do?
Do you help provide local PR material based on your activity?
Do you think the ARRL should spend money like:
a) the beer companies
b) the car companies
c) the cell phone companies (can you hear me now?)
d) the drug companies
to "advertise" ham radio?
And now, hopefully, back to building repeaters....
73,
Gary KN4AQ
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