ABSTRACT
Public service announcements (PSAs) are persuasive messages carried without charge by radio and television outlets on behalf of nonprofit and social-cause organizations. Broad-cast stations carry PSAs to fulfill federal licensing requirements that the outlets serve the public interest. Just as with video news releases, online and wireless media allow organizations to bypass mass circulation media and direct their PSAs to a specified audience. Local media outlets are more likely to carry messages of local interest, and national media outlets are more likely to carry messages that are relevant to a national audience. PSAs follow the same script formats used in radio advertising and television advertising. In terms of content and organization, virtually everything discussed for radio advertising and television advertising holds true for PSAs. The major difference is that commercial announcements tend to promote marketplace transactions, whereas PSAs more often promote social causes and behavior change.
