As mentioned in our last newsletter, California Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) program is excited about our new partnership with KBLA 1580 Black Talk Radio. African American and Black communities are one of the many populations SMP aims to reach for spreading the word on Medicare fraud prevention, sharing our services, and recruiting new volunteers. To do this, we aim to partner with those who have a trusted community presence. KBLA has just that.
KBLA 1580, the first Black Talk Radio Station in Los Angeles history, is located in the heart of Leimert Park. This radio station helps fill an important gap in the current media landscape, providing programming and content that is well aligned with the priorities and preferences of African American and Black audiences in the Los Angeles media market and beyond.
Also, their values very much align with our California SMP program. They aim to “Enlighten” as they are “an engagement radio” using “enlightening, sustainable, and restorative language that challenges listeners to reexamine the assumptions they hold, and expand their inventory of ideas.” And with such a diverse audience of listeners, every day is like a virtual educational, collaborative and inspirational town hall meeting. KBLA also aims to “Empower”, just as SMP aims to empower beneficiaries, families and caregivers in fraud prevention and detection. They are a “progressive radio station uniquely, specifically, and unapologetically geared towards empowering African Americans and other listeners of color; soon to be the majority in America.”
And they “Encourage” their community of listeners by providing a platform, 24/7, for folks to express their fears and frustrations, as well as their hopes and aspirations. The KBLA team says that “what comes from the heart, reaches the heart…that’s what we call building community.” Our SMP team seeks to serve in this same way, serving from our heart and encouraging families and communities to help protect each other from fraud.
Over 50% of KBLA listeners are age 55 and older, and from our research, talk radio is also an effective way to reach and engage listeners. According to Nielsen (measure media audiences), the talk radio format is ranked the #1 format for time spent listening across the nation. And when consumers listen longer, it increases the opportunity for listeners to hear our SMP messages.
In the first three months of our partnership, in addition to airing our SMP PSAs, mobile app ads, digital banners and emails, and we’ve had three live interviews with two of their popular talk show hosts. One of the hosts is Dr. Nii-Quartelai Quartey, who formerly worked as the first AARP Senior Advisor & National LGBTQ Liaison. His first interview was with Tatiana Fassieux, our Education & Training Specialist, and it focused on SMP, who we are, what we do, and current scams and prevention tips. The second interview highlighted hospice fraud and prevention and was with our SMP partner, Sheila Clark, CEO and President of the California Hospice & Palliative Care Association. The third interview, during Medicare Fraud Prevention Week (6/3-6/9), was with show host Domiquie Diprima, who is loved and well-known in her community as “one of the most trusted voices in local community advocacy”. Dominique interviewed Tatiana Fassieux, our CHA/SMP Education and Training Specialist, on how to protect oneself from Medicare scams. See the video links for the 2nd and 3rd interview below as well to watch these interviews.
This month we’re also partnering with KBLA at their upcoming Climate Justice/Community Cooling Event (see PDF flyer) on Monday, July 15 from 10a-1p. We’ll have SMP staff and partners there at an outreach/education table. Come join us if you’re in the area, RSVP today, and help us spread the word.
We’re grateful for this new partnership KBLA, and thrilled to uplift our joint missions to enlighten, empower and encourage our communities.
