KFMJ-FM Promotes Anti-Drug Message

Topic: Drug Prevention

"Overcome it." That is the anti-drug message KFMJ-FM in Ketchikan, Alaska, uses to reach teens who may be tempted to try illegal substances. The public service announcement (PSA), which features a Ketchikan school board member, won a Goldie Award from the Alaska Broadcasting Association in 2007 and continues to air every day, as it has since it was first produced in 2006. The message is just one of the station’s many drug prevention efforts. For more than a decade, KFMJ has used the airways to confront the drug abuse problem in its community. Every October, the station runs PSAs for Red Ribbon Week, a campaign that encourages Alaskans to take action and raise awareness of drug prevention efforts. In 2007, the station supported an inaugural effort by the Women of the Moose, who challenged the third-grade classes in the area to come up with an anti-drug message. When Mrs. Klinger’s class from Houghtaling Elementary won the honor of best entry, KFMJ brought the studio to the school and recorded the kids singing "There Ain’t No Drugs on Me." The recording is being broadcast as a PSA. Station staff wanted to communicate with parents struggling with addictions as well, so they produced a series of announcements featuring a child’s voice saying, "Stop the abuse. You are our role model." The station hopes listeners with a problem get the message.

Read more stories on Drug Prevention »