Non-Commercial Sustaining Announcement (NCSA)
NCSA is an old FCC logging term which indicates a radio or television station receives no revenue for an announcement. The NCSA Program is a hybrid between advertising and public service. Government agencies and non-profit organizations are able to contract with SDBA to run specified announcements. The program guarantees a minimum number of announcements over a specified period of time. It also guarantees that these announcements are aired throughout the broadcast day to ensure the broadest audience possible. SDBA members run the announcements voluntarily, and at no charge.
Guidelines for the NCSA Program
- The NCSA Program is available to government agencies or non-profit groups.
- SDBA guarantees participation by at least 70% of its commercial members.
- Announcements must be public service in nature, for a subject which has not used paid advertising in the last five years.
- Announcements must be 15 or 30 second spots for TV and 30 or 60 second spots for radio (:30 preferred).
- Announcements must have a tag line with the words “sponsored by…” or “paid for by …” to meet legal ID requirements. (Preferred Tag: “…sponsored by client name and aired in cooperation with the South Dakota Broadcasters Association and this station.”)
- Production and tape dubbing are the responsibility of the agency involved.
- SDBA provides for distribution and traffic instructions to participating stations.
- Stations file affidavits of performance at the end of each month. SDBA prepares a report from these affidavits demonstrating to the NCSA client the cash value of the spots delivered across the entire state by both radio and television participants.