OUR FLAGSHIP RADIO PROGRAM
"It's Your World" is a weekly world affairs radio program made by the World Affairs Council of Northern California, our San Francisco council. It is a great success and an amazing tool for our system. It is now being syndicated in the NPR system and needs some help from you. The San Francisco council makes the program with KQED-FM, one of the most listened to public radio stations in America. In the Bay area, it airs on Monday nights in prime time, with an overnight repeat and has been on the air for 53 years.

PROGRAM CONTENT
From heads of state to public policy experts, from authors and educators to advocates, the program delivers serious thinkers, recognized names, lively commentary, and audience response. The 60-minute program is 30 minutes of uncut, unexpurgated speech and another 30 of Q&A from savvy audiences with their own valuable insights and comments. The content is not geared to the San Francisco audience directly but takes a national and international perspective on the issues.

RECENT SPEAKERS
Recent speakers and interviewees include: King Abdullah II of Jordan, Indian and Afghan Ambassadors, Al Gore, leading neo-conservative Douglas Feith, the UN's Lakhdar Brahimi and Mark Malloch Brown, Paul Ehrlich, Military Moms, Ken Adelman, General Paul Kern, the 9/11 Commissioners, Bill Kristol, Nobel Peace Prize Winner F.W. de Klerk, and many more.

COUNCILS AND THEIR LOCAL NPR STATIONS
World affairs councils approached their local NPR stations in 2004 and asked them to carry the program. As a result, various stations in picked up the program: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, New Mexico, Virginia and Washington. About 20 stations around the country are now carrying the program.

FUNDING
The program is fully paid for in San Francisco by the council and the station. There is no charge to a local NPR station or a council for the program. The station takes the program off a satellite feed and uses it whenever it chooses.

APPROACHING YOUR LOCAL STATION
Our council members are generally NPR listeners and supporters across the country. We would like to ask World Affairs Councils to approach their local station. If you approached them last year and they turned you down, please do so again. Momentum is building. How can your council benefit?

Use the last 3 minutes of each program to present your council to the local audience.
Be presented as the local sponsor, creating greater visibility for local fundraising and local membership drives.
Create or expand a relationship with your local NPR station.
Counter the trend away from foreign affairs reporting in the US media.
Build the name and visibility of the world affairs council system nationwide.

See a marketing presentation for It's Your World.

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO GET THE PROGRAM ON THE AIR
1. Have a look at the San Francisco web site to preview past programs.
2. Contact Brian Gruber to get the marketing package for an approach (program CD, letters, printed information).
3. Develop a plan (leverage your board, members, contacts). Usually more than one person and one meeting are necessary.
4. Meet with the station manager. (Meeting with the general manager is more productive than meeting with the program manager).
5. Write letters and meet regularly. Be on their radar screen when they need a program replacement, or open a new slot.

CONTACT
For more information on this initiative contact Brian Gruber in SF at 530-210-6682 or Ljiljana Komnenic in DC at 202-833-4557.