Jerry Wishnow

Jerry Wishnow is an American activist, broadcaster, entrepreneur and founder of The Wishnow Group Inc., a company credited with the development and production of media-centered campaigns aimed at measurably intervening in substantive social problems utilizing mutually beneficial partnerships between media, non-profit and business.[1] The projects have been directed at reducing infant mortality,[2] property crime,[3] changing drug laws,[4] adding anti-discrimination curricula to U.S. and international schools, and increasing voluntarism.[5][6]

Jerry Wishnow
NationalityAmerican
EducationB.A. Northeastern University
M.A. Northwestern University
OccupationActivist, broadcaster, entrepreneur

Wishnow and his campaigns have received over 70 national and regional awards including a Peabody award, three Emmy awards, and four Presidential commendations.[6][7]

Career

Wishnow attended Northeastern University in Boston and earned a BA in English Journalism.[8] As a student editor at Northeastern, he was physically threatened while covering the 1963 Selma, Alabama racial unrest.[9] He later earned a Master of Journalism degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL in 1967.[10] In 1967, he covered the "Summer of Love" in San Francisco for The Boston's Herald Traveler.[10]

He started his work at WBZ radio Boston in 1968 as a public affairs director and producer for The Jerry Williams Show.[11] Wishnow later became creative services director producing public service campaigns which were designed to provide measurable help to the station's audience.[12] In 1974, Wishnow founded The Wishnow Group, an activist public affairs firm based in Marblehead, Massachusetts.[1][13]

Wishnow provided the copyrighted name and assisted in the major market launch of AmeriCorps.[6]

Wishnow has worked with nonprofits including the Anti-Defamation League and the March of Dimes,[14] University of Chicago Hospitals,[2] and government agencies including US Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency,[15] US Law Enforcement Systems Association,[16] and the US Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.[17]

Wishnow has worked with corporate clients and underwriters, including American Express, Digital Equipment Corporation, Sears,[18][19] Montgomery Ward[20] and Blue Cross Blue Shield.[14]

WBZ public affairs campaigns

T-Group 15

In 1969, Wishnow produced an event which locked nine Boston African-American and white school decentralization activists, including Louise Day Hicks, a Bostonian politician and lawyer who strongly opposed court ordered busing and desegregation in public schools, together in a room for over 22 hours[21] with microphones and cameras until compromises over the closing of a key black feeder school were reached.[22] The result was broadcast on WBZ.[21] An African-American and a white psychologist was present during the experiment and the participants were given cues in a "sensitizing" environment to direct the discussion.[23] The project was named "T-Group 15." The 11-hour edited broadcast included four hours of live audience reaction with the participants and was aired on WBZ for 15 hours without commercials.[21]

Rush Hour Rescue

Wishnow worked with ALA Auto & Travel Club of Wellesley, Massachusetts and WBZ radio to develop a service which included a van that provided free emergency road service for cars that broke down on major area highways.[24]

Commuter Computer

"Commuter Computer"[22] was a service created by Wishnow and Jerry Swerling, a public relations director of ALA Auto & Travel Club.[25] Listeners sent in forms with their schedules and locations. A computer matched them up with ten people who had similar carpooling needs.[26] Tens of thousands of people joined the effort.[27] The project sparked carpool campaigns in Chicago, Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Baltimore and Miami.[25]

Stomp Smoking

Wishnow produced a community anti-smoking campaign developed by a team of physicians to provide information and emotional support. In addition to regular PSA's and broadcasts on WBZ, the station personalities went through their own smoking withdrawal on the air live with listeners. The project also featured access to a 24-hour telephone hot-line, anti-smoking clinics, and community-centered support.[4]

Shape-up Boston

"Shape-up Boston" was a six-month-long campaign created by Wishnow. It centered on the issues of diet exercise and nutrition. The campaign featured signed and notarized "Stomp Smoking" oaths. The project was later replicated as "Go to Health" at ABC radio in Los Angeles with support from Sears.[22]

WBZ Drug Bill

Another project Wishnow produced was aimed at providing junior high and high school students, teachers, and parents with information on substance abuse. A family of six with serious drug issues took part in on-air drug counseling. In 1972, on-air audience discussions guided by expert attorneys led to the drafting of legislation which came to be known as the "WBZ Drug Bill," which was passed by Massachusetts State Legislature. The bill lightened penalties for possession of marijuana and led to reduction in jail sentences as a punishment for first and second offenders.[4][28][29]

Wishnow Group public affair campaigns

H.O.T. Car

"Hands off This Car" ("H.O.T. Car") was a community-based program Wishnow produced for WNAC-TV (CBS) Boston to reduce car theft by providing the public with information and a free kit including tapered door locks, kill switches, and engraving tools designed to protect cars from theft. If a car was stolen, the program provided free on-air stolen car reports and cash rewards.[3][30][31][32] The project expanded nationally through the Montgomery Ward auto club and participating network owned and affiliated TV stations where it reached over 51 US markets. The project was credited with reducing auto-theft by an average of 26%.[20]

For Spacious Skies

Wishnow joined with Jack Borden, former news reporter for WBZ-TV Boston,[31] to create the "For Spacious Skies" campaign, established in 1981. The campaign focused on increasing awareness of the sky visibility as a way to reduce air pollution. Dr. Leonard Duhl, a psychiatrist at U.C. Berkeley reported that sensory detachment from the environment is a major factor in personal and social ill health. The board for the campaign included photographer Ansel Adams.[33] Efforts for the campaign were funded through grants from the Environmental Protection Agency and the United States Department of Energy. As part of the push to gain awareness, "The Conference on the Sky,"[15] a three-day facilitated meeting,[31] was held on the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. The conference included meteorologists, astronomers, photographers, musicians, writers, environmentalists, psychologists, pilots, and other professionals whose careers were connected to the sky.[15] The project is ongoing under Borden's leadership.

Priority One

"Priority One" was a year-long comprehensive property crime prevention project designed to provide the public with education and tools to make their homes and neighborhoods more secure. Wishnow produced the project in cooperation with WNAC-TV (CBS) Boston and the Massachusetts Police Chiefs Association. Local police patrolman in hundreds of Massachusetts cities and towns personally knocked on doors of every house or apartment within their jurisdiction and presented a free kit containing anti-theft information and devices including special locks and engraving tools. GTE and Stop & Shop provided blue light bulbs that participants could display in their windows once they had hardened up their homes.[16] The project received a National Emmy award.[7]

A World of Difference

"A World of Difference," a year-long project was created by Wishnow with WCVB TV for the Anti-Defamation League's New England director Lenny Zakim was first tested in Boston. IT was designed to stem acts of bigotry in schools and communities with PSA's and hours of special programming. It centered on a national and locally created curriculum guidebook initially published by The Boston Globe.[5] The year-long campaign was then brought to 30 additional markets. It was broadcast through network owned and affiliate TV stations reaching over 70% of the country.[14] The project, and its K–12 curriculum, now in 14 countries in addition to the United States, continues through the Anti-defamation League.[34] The campaign has won Wishnow a part in two Emmy awards for community service, as well as a Peabody award.[14]

Beautiful Babies: Right From the Start

"Beautiful Babies ... Right from the Start" was a Wishnow created project to combat infant mortality. The campaign was tested in 1987 in Washington at WRC TV (NBC) with the March of Dimes and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Pregnant women could receive a free coupon book for baby care and supplies worth hundreds of dollars. The books were made available at drugstores, medical clinics, by phone[2] and mailed out by the March of Dimes.[14][18] They included emergency numbers and steps for good perinatal health. The coupons could only be used when stamped after each monthly prenatal care visit by a qualified medical personnel. This process and the accompanying media saturation was credited with increasing all-important compliance to care.[2] There was a 7% decrease in infant mortality in Washington, DC.[18] The project was replicated in Chicago with the University of Chicago hospitals and WBBM TV.[19]

Publications

He authored the book The Activist: How to Create Measurable Public Affairs Projects which was edited by Paul La Camera and published by the National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs in 1983.[6][35]

Personal life

Wishnow lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts with his wife, Pei Pei Wu, PhD.[6]

References
  1. "The Wishnow Group Inc". BuzzFile. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  2. "Fighting Infant Mortality With a Coupon Campaign". The New York Times. May 15, 1989. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  3. "HOT CAR - Trademark Details". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  4. Frank Beermann (January 5, 1972). "Boston's WBZ-AM Shows 'How To' of Triggering State Legislation". Variety.
  5. Susan G. Foster (January 23, 1985). "Massachusetts Fights Bigotry With TV, Curriculum". Education Week. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  6. "Biographical Sketches of Participants". Yale Law School. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  7. Don Franks (Oct 28, 2004). Entertainment Awards: A Music, Cinema, Theatre and Broadcasting Guide. McFarland.
  8. Cauldron. Northeastern University. 1966.
  9. "N.U. Group Threatened in Selma". The Boston Globe. March 15, 1965.
  10. Jerry Wishnow (November 12, 1967). "What Hippy Life is Really Like". Sunday Herald Traveler.
  11. Elman, Steve; Tolz, Alan (2008). Burning Up the Air: Jerry Williams, Talk Radio, and the Life in Between. Commonwealth Editions. p. 169. ISBN 978-1-933212-51-7.
  12. "Two U.S. Examples of Station Promo" (PDF). Broadcaster. November 1973. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2014-11-28.
  13. Bill Goodwill. "Cause Marketing Pros and Cons How Issues are Handled Can Raise Concerns for Broadcasters and Non-Profits". PSA Bibliography. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  14. Les Brown (July 1987). "Hype in a Good Cause". Channels.
  15. "Planetarian Journal of the International Planetarium Society "For Spacious Skies"" (PDF). 11 (2). October 1982. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. Walter V Robinson (March 2, 1983). "An Anti-Crime Push". The Boston Globe.
  17. Winn Atkins; Barry Becton; Bill Berman (2012). If It's Not Impossible, It's Not Interesting. Diageo North America.
  18. Julia Lieblich (March 13, 1989). "Beautiful Babies". Fortune. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  19. "Beautiful Babies". Fortune Magazine.
  20. David Bollier (April 1989). "Raise the Halo High". Channels.
  21. "The Boston Marathon". Newsweek. January 13, 1969.
  22. "Public Affairs Mixes Public And Private" (PDF). Broadcast Management Engineering. May 1980. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 28, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  23. Robert Lewis Shayon (February 15, 1969). "Airing the Hang-ups". SP.
  24. Sara Delano. "Give And You Shall Receive". Inc Magazine. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  25. "Westinghoure's driver match-up operation gets big boost from fuel shortage" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 3, 1973. Retrieved July 9, 2015.
  26. Daniel Q. Hanky (November 14, 1973). "'Commuter Computer Club Car' Is Moderate Success, Says EPA". Nashua Telegraph.
  27. Thomas Ehrich (September 19, 1973). "Here's Terrific Idea for Beating Traffic: Try Forming a Carpool". The Wall Street Journal.
  28. David Mutch (June 22, 1971). "Bill seeks to cut jail for drugs". Christian Science Monitor.
  29. "Legislative Committee Heard 'Work' Drug Bill Testimony on Monday". Lexington Minute. June 24, 1971.
  30. Gerry Nadel (December 24, 1977). "Putting Car Thieves into Reverse". TV Guide.
  31. David F. Salisbury (June 3, 1981). "Here's a blue sky idea that really is just that!". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  32. "Hot Car". Legal Force Trademarkia. Retrieved April 7, 2015.
  33. David F Sailsbury (June 3, 1981). "Here's a blue sky idea that really is just that!". The Christian Science Monitor.
  34. "A World of Difference® Institute". Anti-Defamation League. Retrieved April 8, 2015.
  35. Jerry Wishnow (1983). The Activist. National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs.
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