Our company has a long, proud record of public service in the wonderful tradition of America’s broadcasters. As we continue to grow and expand our platforms, our opportunities to serve are greater than ever. We are privileged to work in a business that is able to make such a profound difference in the lives of so many millions of Americans. Being a great corporate citizen is integral to our purpose and at the heart of what Audacy is all about. We started 2020 with social impact goals that were more ambitious than any year previous; we never imagined that we would realize those goals in the face of the remarkable challenges of the last year: a pandemic, a struggling economy, social unrest and a remote workforce. Despite these challenges, at a time when our service was more important than ever, we stepped up and delivered. Read more about our work in the attached social impact report. Along with responding to the most urgent needs of COVID-19, we continued our focused support in the areas of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Civic Education; the Environment; Mental Health; Children’s Health; and Veterans and Service Members. These pillars of focus are reflected in the commitments we make in our community-led efforts, our centrally managed areas of service and our internal teams’ impact goals for 2020. I am grateful to be part of an organization that cares deeply and that makes a difference. Thanks to each of you for your role in enabling Audacy to play a meaningful and growing part in building a brighter and better world. Sincerely, David Field Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Audacy
Veterans & Members
Children's Health
Mental Health
Environment
Civic Education
Diversity
Covid-19 Response
VP Letter
Chairman Letter
Entercom Serves Entercom Social Impact Report 2020
CEO Letter VP Letter Covid-19 Response Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Civic Education The Environment Mental Health Children's Health Veterans & Members
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CEO Letter
A Message From Our CEO
COVID-19 Response
Social Impact Report 2020
DOWNLOAD REPORT
Audacy has always been a values-based organization dedicated to serving our communities and making positive, meaningful impact. 2020 was a year unlike any other. Healthcare workers answered the daily calls of caring for and serving those impacted by COVID-19. Communities across the nation banded together to support their students, local businesses and most vulnerable community members through donations and extra support. Volunteers pounded the pavement and phone lines to engage neighbors in a hallmark election year. And people young and old took to the streets to demand a more just and equitable society for all. Moments like these define people and communities. Moments like these also allow our best selves to shine through, rekindle hope for humanity and ignite the drive to build a brighter future, together. We are humbled and proud to have played a pivotal role in serving our communities and keeping people connected to one another during one of the most physically isolating times in modern history. We did it with audio. Audio that moves people with voices they trust and authentic storytelling that engages our minds and spirit. Audacy Serves is our social impact platform dedicated to supporting the health and success of the communities that are the heart of our business. As the nation’s audio influencer, we use our voice to raise awareness of social issues, bringing communities together for good. We unite with our listeners, brands and employees to create positive impact through 6 pillars of commitment: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Civic Education, the Environment, Mental Health, Children’s Health and Veterans & Service Members. The following summary shares highlights of our commitment in action. We hope you are inspired by the stories of our people, our brands, our voices and neighbors coming together – creating indelible impact on our lives and communities. Beyond that, my personal hope is that you too will realize the incredible good you can do within your community and leave this report inspired to act. In service, Sarah Harris Vice President, Social Impact Audacy
CEO Letter Covid-19 Response Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Civic Education The Environment Mental Health Children's Health Veterans & Members
A Message From Our Social Impact Vice President
Our lives changed in March 2020 as the wave of COVID-19 swept across our country. Sheltering in place compounded our collective stress and demanded more from our trusted voices to inform, promote public health and safety, and offer comfort and respite to our devoted, yet disrupted fans.
We sprang into action launching STAY CONNECTED – aligning our local and national efforts to strengthen our connection with one another and the world outside of our homes. For 10 weeks, this campaign served as the foundation for our local news coverage and COVID-related programming to help keep everyone healthy, safe and feeling supported.
Our local teams and audio content creators used the STAY CONNECTED rallying cry to engage our communities, driving impact and deepening local connection.
Stay Connected
Along with our early pandemic efforts to connect our listeners, clients and employees, in December 2020 we pledged $1 million in direct cash support to all of our local communities before the end of the year. Each market manager worked with their employees to donate directly to local restaurants, museums, and arts and nonprofits - supporting those organizations who are the heartbeat of our local culture and economy. We love our communities, savor our favorite restaurants and celebrate our small business owners and cultural institutions. When they suffer a setback, we all suffer with them. We invested $1 million in micro-gifts to these prized community establishments – celebrating local businesses and supporting the people who make our cities, home.
Investing in our Communities
COVID-19 Response: Driven to Connect
We teamed up with the Ad Council and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to promote our “Stay Home and Stay Connected” message in PSAs across our platform. Our communities created new programs to celebrate local heroes, highlight local businesses and shine a light on timely needs – virtual learning, mental health support and the need for our joint action to protect families and public health. As people sought out reliable news and information, our trusted voices never wavered, offering real human connection 24/7.
New local and national programming and content exclusively dedicated to covering the pandemic and its effects includes:
Sacramento’s 106.5 The End hosted a Wake Up Call Town Hall with community leaders and representatives answering questions on the COVID-19 crisis
Our trusted personalities signed on every day from their homes, kitchen tables and closets turned into makeshift studios. Reliability matters. Numbers reveal our listeners valued the trusted voices they love and turned to them even more during the first few months of the pandemic. Great content matters. In the hiatus of live sports, our fans tuned in even more – listening longer and engaging with our trusted personalities and real time reflections.
In Lakewood, Ohio, residents gathered outside their homes and hosted sing-alongs with the Q104 broadcast soundtrack and their neighbors, all from the safety of their porches.
Sunny 98.1 launched #UnitedSanDiego, maintaining a list of resources to support the community, including medical supply donations, blood donations, food drives and more.
Brands throughout our footprint led or participated in regional concerts that raised funds, food and awareness for the pandemic, including Rise Up New York, Jersey 4 Jersey, Seattle Rock Day, All Together ATX and One World Together at Home.
You have no idea what you're doing for people all over the country and the world. You are doing a great service to people.”
- Tennessee listener thanking his favorite sports personalities for their time and entertainment
I'm Listening: Stay Connected With Dr. Chris
Heroes & Difference Makers
Love Local
Coronavirus Daily
America Dissected
The Kids Are All Home
”
Diversity makes us stronger as a team, as a community and as a nation. We know we are operating at our best when all voices are heard and valued. We are prioritizing building our culture of inclusivity as we also work to ensure our content reflects the communities we serve and we are doing our part to foster a more just, equitable and inclusive nation.
We know our local news coverage is a powerful educational tool for our listeners. We seek to share information that ripples positive change throughout the communities we serve. This year, we launched a partnership with the National Urban League, one of the nation’s oldest civil rights institutions. Urban League affiliates will work with local Audacy teams in nearly 50 cities to deepen their understanding of economic and social justice priorities specific to their communities, thereby informing content and service for listeners and clients. Together, this collaborative and mutually beneficial relationship will foster understanding and build awareness as we promote key local Urban League programs advancing racial justice and equity locally and nationally.
We are investing in the future leaders of the audio entertainment industry through our partnership with Clark Atlanta University, one of our nation’s most respected HBCUs. In working with the Mass Media Arts program, our team is sharing industry knowledge, providing mentorship and guiding over 300 students as they prepare for the first phase of their careers through monthly virtual meetings. Through this new program, we have already extended one job offer to a student participant, and we look forward to welcoming more Clark Atlanta students and graduates into our team in the years ahead.
Shaping Future Audio Leaders
Collaborating for Good
This year was about turning ideas into action. In June 2020, we launched an internal DEI task force and joined CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion in the workplace, as a signatory. Along with hundreds of other businesses, Audacy committed to expanding unconscious bias training, creating a more inclusive work environment for everyone, and fostering real conversations about diversity and inclusion at every level of our organization.
Committed to Action
Our position of influence provides us with a pressing responsibility to use our platform to amplify diverse voices from a variety of perspectives growing the impact of our platform in a thoughtful and inclusive way.
Developing partnerships between Audacy market managers and Urban League affiliates in nearly 50 cities
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
50
Joined with 1,100+ organizations to collaborate for meaningful and successful diversity initiatives
1K+
Local media is a cornerstone of democracy. News shapes and informs how people see, understand and participate in the world around them. Trust in government, and in social media, is at record lows. People trust local media, and the personalities they tune in to daily. We respect this trust. Our commitment to civic education leans into the influence of our platform – complete with the nation’s leading local news brands – to help citizens understand how government works and how we each can play an active role in strengthening our democracy.
Voting is one of the most known and understood ways of practicing civic engagement and participating in our democracy. 2020 posed unprecedented challenges – COVID health concerns, new mail in options and fast changing state specific requirements to ensure ballet security and accurate ballot counting. We launched “Vote: Make it Count” in partnership with nonpartisan VOTE411.org to ensure voters had timely, accurate access to specific voting requirements by state. We engaged our trusted local voices in communities across the country to explain state specific voting requirements and help our listeners understand how to participate in the election. All live educational updates, PSAs, social media posts, digital articles and podcast advertisements directed people to Vote411.org for more reliable nonpartisan state-by-state details on voting.
We activated our longstanding community partnerships to further connect with people and help them navigate the voting process with trust and confidence. For example, Audacy Philadelphia and Atlanta joined with the National Urban League and Black Radio United for the Vote, respectively, to champion increased voter registration, voter education and voter mobilization. Democracy works when we have an informed and engaged citizenry. We used our media platform to shine the light on the voting process and equip citizens with the factual information needed to participate in our nation’s historical national election. Unparalleled confusion. Trusted local media. Unprecedented voter turnout.
Driving Local Engagement
Bolstering Civic Knowledge
Civic education goes beyond election participation. Many nonprofits and civic groups are actively engaged in this important work, yet there’s little content that directly engages adults aged 18-50. Recognizing our influence, Audacy aims to fill this void - starting this year with our support of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars’ Civic Spring Project. This program converts civic education into action by empowering young people to design and implement local solutions to community needs. This project produces civically engaged youth who are empowered and emboldened by their firsthand experience of creating impact in the world around them.
Inspiring Youth Action
In Minneapolis, Audacy station WCCO-AM profiled Civic Spring youth leaders as they advocated for unemployment and pandemic benefits for working high school students. This storytelling on our platform amplified the success of these projects and served to inspire others toward continued civic action and engagement.
Delivering 8 PSA messages per brand per day
230 Stations
articles on AUDACY.COM
20+
social media impressions across our network
1.3M
VOTE411 homepage visits
+414%
early voting participation
100M
Georgia votes cast
4M+
listeners reached
1.2M+
full days of unified on-air programming
5
participating stations, including WVEE-FM and WAOK-AM in Atlanta
11
Black Radio United for the Vote Campaign
Our listeners and fans turn to our platform to discover more about environmental issues affecting their lives. We create content that nurtures the planet and works to allow future generations to thrive – and, we have a timely opportunity to educate our audiences on how simple actions can have a powerful impact.
Each of us can make a difference by changing just “one thing” in our lives. That’s why we launched our 1Thing Initiative to educate and inspire listeners, partners and employees across multiple platforms to create change in their communities, which begins by taking small, individual steps. Our national platform 1ThingUS.com is hub for our listeners to access resources, share what artists are doing to save the planet, and learn how to spark change in their own habits and environments.
We created a 50-day countdown to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and a half-century of strong environmental action. We invested a $1 million PSA grant in local environmental organizations and blitzed our airwaves, streaming channels and digital platforms with daily inspiration and tips on how to grow greener habits in daily routines - even during the pandemic.
“50 Ways in 50 Days”
Simple Habits, Big Impact
Our partnerships with leading environmental organizations like Conservation International further our influence and impact. Leading into Earth Day, we featured an in-depth interview with Shyla Raghav from Conservation International across in all of our public affairs shows to inform listeners of meaningful action they can take to reduce climate impacts. Listen here:
Amplifying Trusted Voices
The Environment
We’re taking steps to reduce the impacts of climate change across our offices:
The environmental issues we face are pressing. It’s never been more important to incorporate sustainable practices into each aspect of our professional and personal lives — join us as we change the world.
Eco-friendly paper products
99%
Market participation in our company-wide volunteer day
100%
Green Pledges in effect within our operations
10
Internal “Sustainability Champions” across our markets who lead local sustainability efforts
46
1Thing: Sustainable, efficient ideas for working from home this winter
Buffalo team partnering with Niagara Waterkeepers to show employees and audiences how to turn old t-shirts into reusable bags
50 Years of Earth Day Special: Conservation International and Our Carbon Footprint Podcast
Corinna Delgado 94.7 The Drive, Washington DC
Shyla Raghav Vice President of Climate Change, Conservation International
We formalized our commitment to mental health in 2017 spurred by the premature deaths by suicide of Chester Bennington of Linkin Park and Chris Cornell of Soundgarden. Our Seattle brand and music teams sprang into action, hosting conversations with artists about healing and hope, and amplifying mental health awareness across our platform.
Our “I’m Listening” program has grown from the local 2017 Seattle broadcast to an annual, award-winning national broadcast that airs every September during National Suicide Prevention Month. It provides a valuable resource for listeners looking to connect, heal and share their own stories. In 2020, the power of talk became more important than ever. Between COVID-19, the ongoing struggle for racial equity, social unrest in our communities and new personal pressures, we all experienced tremendous uncertainty in our daily lives. As a result, many struggled with mental health. Our brands and personalities were a lifeline for audience members to #StayConnected with one another, and a way to provide necessary information, entertainment and moments of reprieve.
As COVID-19 numbers began increasing in late Fall, Audacy joined with the Ad Council as the exclusive audio production partner for “COPING-19.” This national PSA campaign is providing Americans tips and resources to help people who are experiencing mental health challenges during a particularly isolating and difficult time. The national effort is running all winter – through March 2021 – in conjunction with the CDC, the CDC Foundation, The HHS, and the White House linking people to coping tips and strengthening our mental resiliency.
Building Resiliency
Ending the Stigma
As our artists, on-air talent and audiences encounter new mental health challenges, we will continue to harness the healing power of talk to reduce stigma, spread hope and save lives.
It quickly became clear that authentic conversations like these are important tools in fighting the stigma of mental illness and assuring people that it’s okay to not be ok. As the nation’s leading audio influencer, we have one of the most important tools in fighting the stigma of mental illness: the power of talk to save lives.
This year we saw more people seeking a supportive community and voices to talk to:
2K+
Emails from listeners who wanted to share how mental health and suicide have affected their lives sent to ImListening.org
of calls to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Thousands
Jon Bon Jovi
Nikki Sixx
Thomas Rhett
people reached through the I’m Listening campaign
100M+
joined our conversation sharing their struggles with mental health
Katy Perry, Luke Colms, Jon Bon Jovi, DJ Khaled, Demi Lovato and more
Children’s Health
This year Audacy stations hosted over 25 radiothons and raised over $11.5 million benefiting children’s healthcare and research, including $5.1 million for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and $3.1 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital - two of our longer standing national partners in the fight against childhood illness. During each of our radiothons, we use over-the-air messaging and streaming through our online platforms to share stories of hope from on-air talent and affected families, encouraging listeners to give whatever they can.
Children’s health has always been a priority for our communities. Every year our goal is to increase our impact for families affected by childhood illness. Thanks to the generosity of our listeners, on-air talent and team members, we have raised over $215 million for children’s health through radiothons to date.
Around the country, our stations made an impact on children’s health in 2020. Here’s a snapshot of some of our leading market efforts:
$5.1 million raised in cross-company effort by brands in Austin, Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Greenville, Houston, Memphis, Norfolk, Orlando, Philadelphia, Richmond and Springfield MA for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals
$5.1M
$3.1 million raised by our country stations in Chattanooga, Chicago, Detroit, New York, Phoenix, Pittsburgh and San Diego during the annual Country Cares for Kids St. Jude Radiothon
Washington DC’s El Zol raised over $389,000 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, raising more than $1.3m since 2017
$389K+
$3.1M
In Boston, the WEEI-FM team continued its commitment to local nonprofit The Jimmy Fund, raising $1.5 million on Giving Tuesday. 2020 marked the first time in 19 years that the station was unable to hold its annual radiothon in person, but our talent and listeners were still able to drive a big impact virtually. This builds upon WEEI’s legacy of tremendous impact, having raised nearly $60 million for the Jimmy Fund over the past two decades, benefiting Nobel Prize-winning research, advancements in immunotherapy, and successful clinical trials at Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In an incredibly difficult year, our trusted influencers were able to build on our strong connection within our communities and unite with our audience to prioritize children’s health and support families in need.
Focused on Impact
$685K+
$223,018 raised during our Richmond stations Annual Children’s Hospital Radiothon.
$223K+
St. Louis’ 96.3 WFUN raised more than $1.1 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
$1.1M+
$685,630 for Texas Children’s Hospital from La Grande 107.5 KMVK-FM in Dallas and Mega101 KLOL-FM in Houston
We owe our freedom and opportunity to our veterans. As a leading responsible media company, our ability to practice freedom of speech through our storytelling would not be possible without the sacrifices of our service members. We believe it is our duty to share the stories of our nation’s service members and amplify issues that matter to veterans and their families.
Many veterans face a harsh transition back to civilian life. We created Connecting Vets to ensure veterans always have a place to get the news that matters most, including daily updates on veterans’ education, well-being and employment issues, as well as news about local and national veterans’ programs. This year, we saw the broader influence of this work as the nation clung to breaking news about COVID-19. Through Connecting Vets, our producers landed an exclusive on Veterans Affairs’ plans to discard extra coronavirus vaccine doses. The story gained national attention and is a testament to the significant role our reporting plays in national dialogue. Connecting Vets is a place for veterans across the country to connect with fellow service members to get updates on national and veterans’ programs, hear their own stories of perseverance and resilience in the news, and locate key resources as they prepare for their next mission: navigating the transition back to civilian life.
Supporting the Transition to Civilian Life
Our veterans have overcome so much. Connecting Vets and our full suite of audio content resonates, providing a sense of community for our service members to share experiences and build connection. We seek to use our platform to honor and serve those who have sacrificed for us.
Our podcast network has carved out a space for veterans to share their stories:
Veterans & Service Members
