Minnesota’s health care exchange utilizes all fifteen Ampers stations to reach underserved communities

Needing to reach students, small business owners, as well as minority and rural communities, MNsure, Minnesota’s new health care exchange, turned to Ampers, the Association of Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations.  MNsure is running a seven month underwriting campaign on all fifteen of Ampers’ local community radio stations.  The messages are airing in English, Hmong, Somali, Oromo, and Spanish.

“Ampers stations serve the underserved and underrepresented communities of Minnesota,” Ampers Executive Director Joel Glaser said.  “Our strength lies in our ability to reach diverse and rural communities on a grass roots level.  The stations are truly entrenched in their local communities and are a trusted source for information.  The trust factor is especially important when dealing with new immigrant communities and even more so when it comes to complicated issues like health care reform.”

Ampers grew from twelve to fifteen stations in 2012 with the addition of three new Native American stations.  The MNsure campaign is the first time a client has utilized all fifteen stations for a campaign since the organization expanded to fifteen stations.  World renowned advertising agency BBDO/Proximity is the agency of record for MNsure.  Ampers worked very closely with the agency’s media planning and buying divisions to create a custom campaign to meet MNsure’s objectives and to develop messages that comply with FCC guidelines for underwriting that are also relevant and educational for listeners.

Nicole Brubaker, Strategy Supervisor for PHD, a sister agency of BBDO/Proximity said, “The Ampers stations are a great fit for MNsure.  It makes life much easier to have one point of contact who can handle every aspect of the campaign for all fifteen stations. Overall I am very impressed with the level of service and professionalism from this campaign.”

About Ampers

Ampers, Diverse Radio for Minnesota’s Communities, is a network of 15 independent community radio stations in Minnesota. Each station is locally managed and programmed by and for the local communities they serve. The stations are all licensed to a college, school, university, Native American tribe, or directly to the community.  The stations include:  WTIP (Grand Marais/Grand Portage/Gunflint Trail), KAXE (Grand Rapids, Bemidji, Brainerd), KSRQ (Thief River Falls), KUMD (Duluth/Superior), KVSC (St. Cloud),  KUMM (Morris), KFAI (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KMOJ (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KUOM “Radio K” (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KBEM “Jazz88” (Minneapolis/St. Paul), KMSU (Mankato/Austin), KQAL (Winona),  KOJB (Cass Lake/Bena) and KBFT (Nett Lake), and KKWE (White Earth/Callaway).   Ampers has no affiliation with Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) and receives no financial support from MPR.