Broadcasting Success: Janesville Goes On Radio To Tout Schools, Teachers

Greg Tanko remembers the sinking feeling he got one night three years ago when someone asked him what he did for a living.

“I felt embarrassed to tell him I was a teacher,” Tanko reluctantly admits. “On the way home that night, I thought: ‘Wait a minute. This isn’t right. We’ve been beaten down so many times that we’ve started feeling bad about ourselves.’ ”

Tanko, who has always been proud of his work as an auto mechanics teacher at Craig High School, decided it was time to counter the negative talk about teachers and schools and start focusing on the positives.

“What we needed to do is change the attitude of the community,” he said.

His strategy? “Let’s start telling people about the good things and let’s tell them often,” he said. “People need to hear it a lot.”

And so Greg Tanko — without any media background or specialized training — launched the JEA media campaign. He thoroughly checked out the costs, logistics and likely outcomes of various ways to communicate with the citizens of Janesville and determined that the “cheapest and most effective way to get the message out” was through radio advertising.

He went to the Janesville Education Association and received its financial backing, then sat down with the people at the two local sister radio stations — WCLO-AM and WJVL-FM. The radio stations were very cooperative, not only because they were interested in the JEA’s business, but because station manager Bob Dailey is married to Orfordville teacher Pam Dailey.

Tanko agreed to organize the radio spots, and the station agreed to handle production. Bob Dailey became the voice of the commercials, some of which include comments and testimonials from teachers and former students.

With a first-year budget of $15,000, the JEA was able to run 15 spots every week on WCLO and occasional spots on WJVL. The advertising budget was reduced to $5,500 per year the last two years but Janesville citizens still can hear 616 spots this year.

Most ads run during the morning drive-time news segments. Others run during broadcast sporting events, including high school games, Green Bay Packer games, Milwaukee Bucks games, and Milwaukee Brewers games.

A major part of the advertising strategy was to avoid the “flash in the pan” approach — rather than running a barrage of ads over a short period of time, the JEA decided it would be more effective to run ads throughout the year. And it is continuously producing new ads — new ones appear every three weeks.

How successful have they been? “Since they started running, there has not been one — not one — negative letter to the editor in the Janesville Gazette about public education or Janesville teachers,” he said.

In addition, he has noticed a considerable improvement in the tone of the Gazette’s overall coverage of education and in the community’s attitude. Since the ads began, citizens have approved two major school referendums. Previous referendums had failed.

“These ads must have had something to do with all of that,” he said.

Such results have made all the work well worthwhile, Tanko said.

“I have the best job in the JEA. I get to tell about all the good stuff that’s going on. It’s been real rewarding.”

In addition to the radio spots, the JEA also sends books to newborns during American Education Week, sponsors a sign at the Little League park, and hands out pencils during parent-teacher conferences. The pencils say: “Teachers and Parents Make a Great Team.”

According to Tanko, the money and time invested in promoting education locally pays off.

“We’re not going to change what people think about education nationally. We’re not going to change what people think about education in Wisconsin. What we want to change is what people think about education in Janesville. I think we’ve accomplished our goal.”

Sample radio spot

Remember your favorite teacher? It may have been the one who said nice things about your essays in the 8th grade. Or that 5th-grade teacher who took extra time to help you when you were struggling with fractions. Or maybe it was the high school French teacher who made the language come alive. Talk with Janesville’s writers, firemen, auto workers, and little league coaches, and you’ll find they remember a teacher who made a difference in their lives. Take a moment to remember the Janesville teacher who made a difference in your life. It’s National Teacher Day. A message from the Janesville Education Association.

Posted March 24, 1997