Public Service Announcements (PSAs) produced by the government access channel add a local feel and are highly recommended. Public service announcements play the role of "commercials" on government access channels and contribute to creating a broadcast channel look.
Include your channel on the mailing list for other local non-profit organizations to send their PSAs. The National Ad Council makes high quality public service announcements available at no charge. The National Ad Council PSAs are of high quality, but might add an impersonal feel to the channel. Therefore, you may want to add several locally-produced PSAs.
The most efficient way to produce public service announcements is to hold group workshops, with staff assisting all groups, in an assembly-line format. In Santa Monica, PSA workshops are held several times a year, at which all local non-profits and city departments are invited to produce a PSA at no cost.
At the workshop the groups are shown examples of PSAs and given instructions on how to write a PSA, prepare visuals and select music. Each group is given one hour of field videotaping time that are coordinated with other PSA tapings in order to create a full day of work for the cameraperson. A project producer is hired to help coordinate the scripts, visuals and music for the groups, then a final two-hour production session is held. During the two hours, each group shoots any additional visuals and edits their PSA. Several PSAs can be produced in one day.
The resources given to each project are minimal, but with careful planning and creativity, some great PSAs have been created, some of them award winning. The PSA project has proven to be manageable for the City departments and the production facility to handle. By grouping everyone together and using assembly line production techniques, economies of scale are achieved.
PSAs have been distributed to local broadcast stations. It is rewarding to see the station's work air on the local NBC or ABC broadcast station.