Proposal “Talk_Radio_Proposal2018“ (Closed)Back

Title:Renewal of Funding – DASH Radio Advertising, 190+ FM and AM Stations Coast-to-Coast in the United States and on Free-to-Air Satellite over Sub-Saharan Africa, Central America, and North America
Owner:FTLIan
Monthly amount: 50 DASH (1922 USD)
Completed payments: no payments occurred yet (3 month remaining)
Payment start/end: 2018-10-17 / 2019-01-14 (added on 2018-10-14)
Final voting deadline: in passed
Votes: 360 Yes / 211 No / 73 Abstain

Proposal description

Hello fellow masternodes!  I’m Ian Freeman, one of the hosts of Free Talk Live.  You may have recently seen me on Dash Force News’ 3 Amigos Podcast for an hour.  More recently, I had two of the guys from Dash Force News on to co-host all three hours of Free Talk Live (here’s the video or MP3)- on national radio, as you’ll see below.  On both Dash Force News and Free Talk Live we talk about my other DASH project that was completely self-funded - the DASH “Cryptotip”.  They are printable DASH tips you can leave for people in real life - check that out when you get a moment.  I think you’ll really like them.  Ok, enough about me, on to the proposal:

Free Talk Live (FTL) is a seven-day-a-week, live, nationally syndicated libertarian, pro-crypto radio program on 185+ AM and FM radio stations across the US.  These are real FCC licensed radio stations! You can see where they are on our radio transmitter map.  (This Summer we added 50,000 Watt WRKO in Boston - stations don’t get any bigger than that.)  Our show is heard on both conservative AND progressive talk stations - we’re the only national issues-based show that is heard on both formats.

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/3WiznkW2BXzOQcy9KR6sa9Rmll76mennR-OwMI6jpFFUyFHbAIKfHS_wIE9UrKyx3LY7NfRg7ni5yUCZAamlhT47Fs2MjarI2Eano1pX5xUCJrCsiBow7J1N2Zs6MiCEY7_PQqMk

However, our reach is not exclusive to radio stations.  We also have more than 15 million downloads on our podcast and others listen to us via live streaming and our international satellite channels (more on that later).  We’ve been around the cryptocurrency world since 2011 and FTL is credited by Gavin Andresen and Roger Ver as helping to give Bitcoin the initial boost it needed to get widespread adoption.

"Many of the earliest Bitcoin adopters first learned about it through Free Talk Live...I'm convinced that is one of the sparks that turned a crazy little open source software project into a multi-billion dollar industry."  -Gavin Andresen, Original Bitcoin Head Developer

"By broadcasting this message since 2011...FTL has been instrumental in creating the widespread adoption that we have today."  -Roger Ver, CEO Bitcoin.com

This is a proposal to renew our year-long relationship with DASH that we started at the beginning of 2017.  (Thank you for supporting us!)  We don’t need DASH to build us a fancy studio or to help us start doing anything.  We already have a studio and we’ve been doing our show since 2002 and have been in national syndication since 2004.  We’re established in the industry and are the longest-running show in our daypart (7-10pm Eastern) in national syndication. We’ve outlasted all of our competition. In case you doubt our claims of success, TALKERS Magazine (the premiere industry publication for talk radio) this year named us the #27 most important talk radio show as part of their “Heavy Hundred”!  It’s our tenth year on the chart, and we’ve been moving up every year. See it for yourself here.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/FV4EUMiTHSkrRf7Y2i1mOQAJAOecQ5ZakVFn9hytKb04OaQwDmRSHQh88ssCHtlqaYzv38fAUYl2zXk224F8NcD3xooHaUpVVEDsrnl8UUx3GXKPaQvDWuIAkqS9cgeWz2ySWs_L

As early adopters of Bitcoin, we’ve done very well and are comfortable enough to be very choosy about which advertisers we accept.  We believe in DASH. As you can see from me and my co-host Mark Edge’s (medgeftl) accounts here, FTL are DASH masternodes. We wouldn’t have asked for DASH’s sponsorship if we weren’t supporters.

It’s part of my mission to spread cryptocurrency as part of my peace advocacy with the Shire Free Church.  I run two Crypto Vending Machines (CVMs) in Keene, NH and one CVM in Manchester, NH. Those machines only offer two types of crypto - BTC and DASH.  I love that DASH focuses on bringing crypto into the real world and our hosts have been instrumental in making that a reality on-the-ground here in New Hampshire.  I spend DASH in real life at merchants around town multiple times each week. I can go shopping in Keene, NH, grab a newspaper and other goodies at Corner News and pay in DASH.  I can go across the street and get lunch at Local Burger, with DASH. I take my car to Wilder Automotive and get it repaired with DASH. I buy drinks and food at Thirsty Owl, get a pizza from Little Zoe’s, grab some BBQ at Hot Hogs, and MORE.  According to Albert at DiscoverDash.com, Keene is the 2nd most DASH-accepting city in the world, per-capita (after Portsmouth and before Caracas). Free Talk Live’s co-hosts made this possible by reaching out to merchants directly and helping them get setup with the killer-app merchant software, Anypay (a company co-founded by FTL alumni Derrick J Freeman).  We’re invested in DASH being a success, and that’s not because of the previous sponsorship, it’s because we believe that DASH is superior tech to Bitcoin and prefer to use it over Bitcoin because of the lower fees.  DASH rocks and it owns the growing crypto retail world in New Hampshire.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/QDkDuuk1sMQKcT2atcQMq7n04HZlS04SU0R2wKMXXbHXVf004KclMMD21AD4fW5V2eJ-28vsUcNkv4Ssz-vJ1Ua9u6NcJQql2pLqq7d7urq9KFcyrqVfuNBGTF3zQF1f2d9V_3_p

This proposal is to renew DASH as a prime sponsor of Free Talk Live.  Per show, this means DASH receives three (3) :30 second recorded radio ads, one :30 podcast ad and one (1) live promotion per show.  We have about a dozen ads that we created that were approved by the Core team, they all have the same scripts, but a bunch of different voices.  This, we feel, helps function as a sort of “Word of Mouth” campaign. Listeners hear the same message repeated by many different people.

As insurance against a major rise in the cost of DASH, we are offering to throw in up to four additional weeks of the same ad package, if the cost of DASH supports it; and we won’t ask for additional funding during the timeframe of this proposal if the price goes down.  We’re not cashing out. We’re spending DASH in real life and holding the rest and are in this for the long run.

We also have produced another half dozen or so ads that point out the strengths of DASH: transaction times, transaction fees, the robust community, etc.  We use the live promotions as opportunities to talk about new developments in DASH.  Dashforcenews.com has been invaluable for this. Even though our DASH sponsorship expired at the end of 2017, we still have a banner on our studio cam page at and speak positively about DASH when the opportunity arises on air.

At Free Talk Live, our standard is that we have to believe in the product to do a live promotion, and we regularly use and promote DASH.  We can easily defend against the DASH haters. (Our phones are open every night, so we have been challenged on-air.)  I hope you will vote to renew these ads and any comments you have are welcome. We are putting this in for 3 months of funding, but I must advise you that branding advertising is a long term endeavor.  We will continue to support DASH, whatever your vote, but this will give us the opportunity to continue to discuss it seven-nights-per-week and for our 300,000+ weekly listeners all around the world, mostly in the US.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/fbcU0qk2tM2Juj3D4tUhPjFtgjpTiWS5C20sX9uZ9FE0QrMllVtx42COZEhkMDc3Y07Bc6g99PBsjrVUP7UqBRpCDZvmjs7xCVyNDyYW5CnbJODZ0dZxJ0PPwE2p7ivNwrEEEB8a

I mentioned earlier that Free Talk Live is heard on international satellite channels.  It’s called Free-to-Air satellite broadcasting and it’s popular globally, especially in poorer countries, which is exactly where DASH needs to be heard and adopted.  Poor people can’t afford to pay for satellite channels, so Free-to-Air is not encrypted, which means the channels cost nothing to receive. We’ve been on satellite since 2010 over North and Central America (Galaxy 19) and over Sub-Saharan Africa (SES-5) since 2012.  We know we’re reaching people, as we’ve heard from listeners in African nations like Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Kenya, and Nigeria.  Here's a video (from our previous satellite fundraiser on patreon) that explains what we’re doing in more detail and introduces you to our listener Ako in Cameroon:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV7zwG_J1yA

The satellite channel we’re on is LRN.FM - The Liberty Radio Network.  It’s a 24/7 internet-based streaming audio network that’s been in existence since 2009 and I am its program director.  LRN.FM already features multiple DASH-friendly shows with which you are probably familiar, including:

-“The Crypto Show” - Danny’s a good friend and his show has long been sponsored by DASH.
-DASH Force News’ “Three Amigos Podcast” - Hosted by Joël Valenzuela, Mark Mason, and Brian Freeman
Plus we previously aired these DASH-friendly shows but sadly they’ve ceased production:
-“Neocash Radio” with hosts Dr. Darren Tapp and FTL alumni JJ Schlessinger.
-”Reality Check” with Ben Swann (ceased their audio-only podcast)

For less than one percent of the DASH monthly budget, DASH will receive continuous national radio, streaming, podcast, and international satellite audio promotions by hosts who are regular DASH users.  This is important branding reaching people in their cars, homes, and on their headphones. Thank you for reading this far and for your vote.

Break down of costs:

FTL Major Sponsorship Package
7 live promotions per week @ $140 each = $980 per week
21 :30 second radio ads per week @ $25 each = $525 per week
7 :30 second podcast ads per week @ $20 each = $140 per week
125x100 banner on every page.
Large Banner on a major page of FreeTalkLive.com. https://www.freetalklive.com/studio
Periodic social media posts and a recorded interview for the podcast.
13 week sub-total = $21,385 = approx 135 DASH (at $158 per DASH - the price at the day of this submission)

Proposal reimbursement = 15 DASH (submitted June, was supported, but told to try again after all the Core proposals, then same thing happened in July, so this is our third and final try)

Requesting a total of 150 DASH (50 per month)

Show full description ...

Discussion: Should we fund this proposal?

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1 point,5 years ago
Apparently it's not too late to get this project through, and it fits in this months cycle. Please vote Yes!
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0 points,5 years ago
Second that
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0 points,5 years ago
Damn. Once again there was just enough leftover funds, but still rejected.
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1 point,5 years ago
November: Another month with just over 50 DASH left in the budget and my 50 DASH national talk radio advertising renewal is still there and could pass with enough support. HALP!
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1 point,5 years ago
I really hope folks will take a second look at this before voting ends
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2 points,5 years ago
Aaand another month with enough room for us leftover at the end of the voting period and not a single objection posted. Disappointing. Guess this will float out there for the next two months so we'll see if anything happens in November, but am not going to get my hopes up. Thanks to all who supported us.
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2 points,5 years ago
YES..because Ian is a true Dash advocate. The Dash ask is not too much.
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0 points,5 years ago
Thank you for the vote of confidence. This is a nail-biter.
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1 point,5 years ago
seems good value to me. One concern mite with all the entertainment options in 2018 people are listening to talk radio less? Another issue mite be not enough of the mno's are voting. I was noticing some of the big venez proposals only have 800 votes for example. anyways, voting yes
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3 points,5 years ago
Radio reaches 93% of the United States according to Nielsen (see article below) - not all listen to talk, obviously, but talk is the most effective form of advertising when a host endorses a product. We are actual users of DASH, so we're the best endorsers you'll find.

Plus you can't buy national ads for this cheap anywhere. We give exposure on over 190 stations for what you'd pay for one local station, likely.

https://adage.com/article/media/mixed-signals-radio-s-health/313110/
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7 points,5 years ago
Having been on Free Talk Live many times (just search Dash Force News for linked appearances) I know first hand how valuable this is for Dash-related advocacy. This is amplified by the FTL crew's actual on-the-ground Dash evangelism which has resulted in dozens of Dash-accepting businesses in New Hampshire, and gives FTL a real voice for Dash beyond that of a simple platform with advertising.
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3 points,5 years ago
Thank you for the kind words. Though there's no need to search! There is a link to both your interview of me on DFN's podcast and also to the full episode of FTL co-hosted by you, me, and Mark Mason in the first paragraph of the proposal, for the reader's convenience!
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5 points,5 years ago
Easy yes, an absolute steal for 50 Dash. It's frustrating to not see this pass month after month.
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1 point,5 years ago
Thank you.
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1 point,5 years ago
Fingers crossed for success. Voting YES.
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2 points,5 years ago
a clear yes from me. Hope it gets through this time!
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1 point,5 years ago
Yes from me, good luck.
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0 points,5 years ago
where is the Dash cryptotip, I can only find BCH...?
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0 points,5 years ago
ahh nvm, found it!
fwiw, the UI could use some help calling Dash out (besides being hidden in a drop-down listbox)
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1 point,5 years ago
It's mentioned on the About page. I did suggest moving the crypto selection part towards the top of the page. I'll remind my programmer about that idea.

Though we launched with DASH and it was exclusive to DASH for a few months, sadly very few people outside of Keene actually put these to use. Glad to hear someone actually take an interest in the DASH community. I think they are a great tool and use them frequently.
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5 points,5 years ago
I hope this does well. Countless times people have told me they catch our show on LRN.FM.
That's just the internet side of their Network. Imagine the reach on the FM.
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3 points,5 years ago
Yes please
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3 points,5 years ago
Hi fellow MNOs, I've trimmed the fat from this proposal. It was previously a proposal to expand the sponsorship to multiple shows and do some giveaways of DASH. In the interest of keeping this as small as possible, those elements have been removed and this is now just a sponsorship of just Free Talk Live (across all our platforms, radio, podcast, international free-to-air satellite, streaming, etc.)

Yes, our rates have gone up somewhat - we're nearly sold out of our live inventory (the most effective form of advertising we do) and we weren't nearly as sold-out earlier this Summer when I first proposed to renew our sponsorship in June.

These rates get DASH promoted across 190 radio stations in the US, podcast, streaming, and international satellite for less than what you'd likely pay if you bought ads on one local station in your area. Our price for the reach we have is unbeatable.

Thank you in advance for any feedback. If you're considering voting no, please consider there was enough room for us in both of the last two months. If there's some concern you have, let's talk about it before you decide how to vote, please.
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