Introduction

A letter from Jeff Smulyan, chairman, president, and CEO.

The Radio Industry is rooted in tradition, and yet at the
forefront of progress. The Industry has seen its share of
challenges and continues to thrive. Emmis has always believed
and supported the industry, just as it does its people. The
challenges that our industry faces can be complicated and even
sometimes scary but we have learned that by believing in
yourself, never jeopardizing your integrity, and being good to
your people you will continue to be respected by your peers
and audiences.

During your rough time, please remember the Eleven

Commandments of Emmis that have helped make our company
strong and respected and let them guide you.

1. Admit your mistakes

2. Be flexible—keep an open mind
3. Be rational—look at all your options
4. Have fun—don’t take this too seriously
5. Never get smug
6. Don’t underprice yourself or your medium—don’t attack the industry, build it up.
7. Believe in yourself—if you think you can make it happen, it will happen.
8. Never jeopardize your integrity—we win the right way or we don’t win at all.
9. Be good to your people—get them into the game and get them a piece of the pie.
10. Be passionate about what you do and compassionate about how you do it.
11. Take care of your audience and your advertisers—think of them and you will win.

Sincerely

Jeffrey H. Smulyan

Chief Executive Officer, President

and Chairman of the Board
Goals
During a crisis it is important to keep an end goal in mind. No matter the
situation, remain focused on the following.

1) Rebuild trust with stakeholders and the community

2) Minimize loss of reputation equity and damage to the station’s

reputation, and the reputation of Emmis Communications

3) Maintain the reputation of the Radio Industry

Stakeholders
Stakeholder Contact

Advertisers- The sales team has contacts of the account manager for each advertiser. In any
crisis that could become public an email describing the situation which is consistent with what
the media is being told, and actions are being taken should be sent to every account manager
that the station is currently doing business with. Emails will be sent to them regularly updating
them with information. Since they generate revenue for the station, having them stand with
the station is important.

Emmis Communications- Emmis is KSHE’s Parent company. If a crisis is bad enough (as decided
between John Beck and Tara Graves) Emmis PR consultant Kate Snedker* will be contacted by
John Beck to join the team. She will be the bridge between Emmis and KSHE at that time.

Employees- Employees are at the heart of KSHE, and at the heart of Emmis. They are automatic
brand ambassadors. In the event of a crisis, all employees will be notified via Constant Contact
with a description of the crisis which is consistent with what the media is being told, and some
key messages to rely if they are asked about the situation. The working environment at KSHE is
very loose and personable, rather than sending out a “script”, explain the situation and ask
them to help support the station in a time of need. Make sure to include current interns to the
station as well, and their academic advisors if applicable.

On Air Personalities should be reached by phone if their regularly scheduled shift if

affected. They will be subject to training, but should be quickly briefed on how to handle the
specific situation. All of this contact will be the responsibility of Patti McMahon.

Listeners- There is no way to personally reach each and every listener in a personal matter.
Informing them will happen via social media (noted in Social Media section) There is also an
email list of people who have signed up for newsletters that can be used to send a more
detailed description of the crisis. The messages in the newsletter should be consistent with
what is on social media, and what is being told to the media.
Radio and Telecommunication Lobbyist and Interest Groups- General Manager John Beck is
active in several special interest groups about the radio industry*. He, and his stations are
influential. In the event of a crisis he should contact members of these groups personally—and
make sure the message he gives them is consistent with everything else. These contacts could
prove very helpful.

Record Labels- Labels are not usually directly affected if there is a crisis, but KSHE has a good
relationship with many of the labels it works with because the station has been influential in
the music industry*. Because of this good relationship, in the event of a crisis the
representatives for these labels should be notified of a crisis IF it will interfere with an artist
interview, new music being featured, or promotions. This communication will happen via email
from the assigned team member and will be consistent with all other communications.

Sister Stations- Emmis St. Louis is also home to 105.7 The Point, KHITS, and 97 The Talk.
Because these stations function out of the same building, and many employees work for
multiple stations they should be notified in the same way KSHE employees will. These other
stations will not need to alert their listeners and separate stakeholders unless directed by John
Beck or Emmis Corporation.

St. Louis Community- KSHE has been a part of the St. Louis Community before it was owned by
Emmis. The reputation that KHSE has in this community is very important. To communicate
with the community, Tara Graves will contact local media outlets as outlined in the media
section.
 Media Contact Record

Media Outlet
_________________KSDK________________________________________________________________

Contact Name

______________Heidi_Glaus*____________________________________________________________

Contact Information
___________HGlau@KSDK.com___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Date of last contact ___Dec_1_2014__________________

Contacted by

__________Heidi_contacted_Favazz_______________________________________________________

Subject of last contact

_______”A_Spin_Through_History”_feature_with_Favass*_____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Current contact report

Included a summary of the conversation and include all questions asked and answered

Date and Time _______________________________

Contacted by ________________________________
 Media Contact Record

Media Outlet
_____________________________KMOV___________________________________________________

Contact Name

___________Emily_Ratkewitz_____________________________________________________________

Contact Information
_________________314_356_2544________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Date of last contact ________March 3 2014______________

Contacted by

___________Lern______________________________________________________________________

Subject of last contact

______Coats_For_Kids_Drive_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Current contact report

Included a summary of the conversation and include all questions asked and answered

Date and Time _______________________________

Contacted by ________________________________

Media Contact Record

Media Outlet
____________________Fox_2____________________________________________________________

Contact Name

_________________Tyler_Schmied____________________________________________________

Contact Information
__________TSReport@Fox2Now.com_____314_777_9388_____________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Date of last contact ________April_15_2014_____________

Contacted by

__________Tara_Graves_________________________________________________________________

Subject of last contact

_____________”Red_Summer”_Featurette__________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Current contact report

Included a summary of the conversation and include all questions asked and answered

Date and Time _______________________________

Contacted by ________________________________
 Media Contact Record

Media Outlet
_______________River_Front_Times_______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Contact Name

______________Blake_Ball_______________________________________________________________

Contact Information
__________________Bball89@RFT.Com____________________________________________________
___________________314_754_5067______________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Date of last contact _____Nov 5 2014__________________

Contacted by

______Ball_contacted_John_Ulett_________________________________________________________

Subject of last contact

_____Vintage_Vinyl_Story_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________

Current contact report

Included a summary of the conversation and include all questions asked and answered

Date and Time _______________________________

Contacted by ________________________________
 Media Contact Record

Media Outlet
______________PBS____________________________________________________________________

Contact Name

___________Catherine_Fearon___________________________________________________________

Contact Information
_______Fearonfilms@yahoo.com_________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Date of last contact ___June 14 2013____________________

Contacted by

________Fearon_contacted_Tara_Graves___________________________________________________

Subject of last contact

_____________KSHE_Cares______________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Current contact report

Included a summary of the conversation and include all questions asked and answered

Date and Time _______________________________

Contacted by ________________________________
Social Media

During a crisis, updating social media will be the quickest way to reach the most
people. However, if used incorrectly social media could make the crisis worse.
This guide will help you understand how to use each social media platform
properly.

Twitter
Twitter is today’s go-to place for up-to-the minute news by young people. Short bursts
of information can be shared in real time. On twitter, you are limited to 144 characters- so say
what you need so say and nothing else. Also, Twitter is most popular with a younger crowd,
only a percentage of KSHE’s audience--so don’t ignore other mediums.

Early on Twitter should be used to update with honest information as quickly as

possible. When the “Information Gathering” of the crisis is over it will be used to share
resources and other news articles that are showing the station in the light we desire.

DO
Update as soon as new information as known
Post links to other stories and resources
Post important images
Keep messages short, sweet, and simple
One message-One Tweet
DON’T
Go over 144 characters
Break messages up between different posts
Post links without using a link shortener
Post too many photos that aren’t important
Post information that is not confirmed

Facebook
Facebook is an online community, a place to share information in a casual way. Videos
and visual content work well. Most of KSHE’s target audience is active on Facebook, but not all
follow our page. One of the main goals here is to get important posts “shared” so more people
will see them.

Facebook doesn’t limit characters like Twitter does but you should really try to keep
posts short enough so the user doesn’t have to click to read more. If that has to be done, make
sure the information is absolutely necessary and the first line of the post is a headline that
states the post’s importance.

Unlike Twitter, Facebook should not be used for short up-to-the-minuet updates.
Instead, wait until there is a substantial amount of information to give to the public. This is
more of an official statement.

DO DON’T
Post images and videos Engage in the comments section during a crisis
Include details Post the same thing on Facebook as Twitter
Remain Professional Post unrelated content in between crisis posts

YouTube
YouTube is for uploading videos, KSHE uses YouTube mainly for DJ promotions. During a crisis
YouTube will be used to host messages from the Spokesperson. These videos will be posted on
all other KSHE social media, and again no other unrelated content will be posted around the
time of the crisis announcement and spokesperson video. It would look like the station is not
serious about the issue if right after a serious event, a video is posted of DJs racing go-carts.

General SMS Guidelines

• Make an initial statement about a crisis within 15 minutes on social media
• Never fight, argue, or disagree with another user. During a crisis, it is best to not engage
in the comments section—anything you have to say should be said where everyone can
see it.
• Make sure all station personalities are sharing your posts, and being sensitive to the
situation. (See go-cart example)
Crisis Team

Name Position Duty

Tara Graves Local Communications Oversee and guide team
Director through crisis plan as well as
coordinate media and social
media
John Beck* General Manager Be the boss. Keep business
needs in mind, coordinate
with high management,
monitor crisis team, and call
in corporate if necessary
Patti McMahon* Human Resource Director Coordinate and implement
crisis plans with employees
Kate Snedker† Emmis Corporate PR Maintain the reputation of
Consultant Emmis Corporation
Crisis Contact Sheet
Name Contacted by Position Personal Phone
Tara Graves John Beck Local Communications 314-717-5067
Director
John Beck* Tara Graves General Manager 314-778-9092
Patti McMahon* Tara Graves Human Resource 314-788-5412
Director
Kate Snedker1 John Beck* Emmis Corporate PR 317-258-3748
Consultant

1
Snedker will only be called in if John Beck or Emmis feels corporate needs to be present. At that point, she will
work closely with Graves, but she will ultimately be in charge.
Spokesperson
In any crisis situation, General Manager John Beck would be best suited to represent the

station to the public during the entirety of the crisis. Beck is well respected and trusted in the

industry, and he has experience both in broadcast and in political speaking. He is the person

that KSHE listeners want to hear from, and the media and industry can take seriously.

Even if Emmis Corporate got involved in the crisis situation Beck would remain

spokesperson. Emmis believes in the community and bringing in an unknown man in a suit

would only distance the audience. If the crisis becomes an Emmis crisis, or a national crisis then

the Emmis crisis team will take care of it as such.

DJs are great ambassadors and would be allowed to talk about certain crises during their

program, if the crisis team allowed it. Issues that are political in nature should be avoided by

DJs because KSHE is a music station; DJs have creditability in music not politics. In 2014 when

St. Louis had a crisis over the shooting death of Michael Brown, DJs were instructed not to talk

about it—letting KSHE be an escape from the news. That went over well, and listeners really

appreciated it. Turning from music to news, even news of your own will turn away listeners.

Since Beck is known in St. Louis as the General Manager, many media outlets may

already know to contact him first. However, for everyone else Tara Graves will be in charge of

coordinating media—she will connect them with Beck. Beck will already have extensive media

training, and be briefed with key messages before talking to any press.
Communication Center
When a crisis is called all members of the crisis team should my default meet in the

upstairs digital conference room. The room is normally used for meetings in the digital

department, but it is large, has the most internet and phone connections, and is the one

conference room that isn’t located centrally (employees won’t be walking by constantly). If the

digital department needs a conference room, they can use one of the conference rooms

downstairs.

The room is already equipped with a large round table, wifi, and two conference

phones. During a crisis extra chairs will be removed so there are only enough chairs for the

crisis team. Each crisis member will be provided with a MacBook Air and a company IPhone 5.

The team will be allowed to keep their personal phone, and make personal calls on the

company phone as well.

The following items will be available to the crisis team:

• Three cases of bottled water

• Three days’ worth of non-perishable food items

• Snacks (pretzels)

• Back up chargers for Iphones and MacBooks

• Two first aid-kits

• Advil, Tylenol, allergy medication, cough drops, peroxide, and a thermometer

• A large KSHE cotton t-shirt and large drawstring sweatpants for each team member
 • A fleece throw blanket for each team member

• A copy of this plan for each member

• A notebook for each member

• A box of pens, pencils, and a mechanical pencil sharpener

These items will be stored in plastic tubs marked “CRISIS TEAM” in a storage closet that also

holds more water, food, and first aid kits for other employees.

In the case that the Union Station location is unavailable, Tara Graves will make

arrangements with a local hotel to get a crisis room. She will first go to The Pear Tree Inn (2211

Market St., St Louis, MO 63103, 1-800-997-5149) if that is unavailable she will try The Westin

(811 Spruce St., St. Louis, MO 63102, +1-800-997-5148) She will also charge Patti McMahon

with replacing the items on the above list. If the Union Station location is permanently

unavailable (destroyed) Emmis will work on finding a permanent location to meet.

All crisis documents are available on Google Docs, including this plan and a list of

employee emails and other contacts. KHSE has a subscription to Skype, so if no physical space

can be found the team can still meet.

Crisis Procedure
A situation will be dubbed a crisis by Tara Graves OR by Emmis Corporate. When the team is

called together, they will be briefed and work together to fill out a Crisis Worksheet. The first

goal of the Crisis team will be to post an initial acknowledgement statement on Twitter and

Facebook. This post will be short and have three parts:

1) Acknowledge the crisis

2) State what information you have CONFIRMED

3) Promise to update with more information as it becomes available.

This crisis post needs to be up within 15 minutes of a crisis.

Once the team is back in the crisis room, more detailed information needs to be found.

Patti will be in charge of getting ahold of employees involved and checking on operations while

the Tara and John will be developing a set of key messages. Once those are set, John will speak

to some press and the sales team while Tara writes press releases, updates social media, and

continues to monitor the situation. The team will all report back to one another every half

hour—and updating instantly everything something changes.

 Right away DJs need to be notified if their shifts change, if DJs can’t do their shifts or if

the building is compromised Emmis Chicago needs to be notified immediately so they can

switch the station to full automation and connect the team with the automated computer

backups. Pattie will take care of this.

If there are any injuries or loss of life Tara will need to contact grief and trauma

counseling and John will have to contact lawyers.

As more information comes to light the team will have to find out if anyone is at fault.

Emmis is very serious about its commitment to treating their people right, so finger pointing

has to be careful and confidential, send all information to Corporate for approval before

publically blaming anyone.

John Beck is ultimately the boss, and has final say—however in a crisis situation once he

has approved the general crisis plan and the key messages he has agreed to let Tara do what

she feels is right and will only step in if he feels strongly.

Of course all of this will change if John Beck or Emmis calls in Kate Snedker, she will take

over and what she says go.

 Crisis Work Sheet

Explain briefly what happened

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

When did this happen?

Time__________________ Date________________________

Where did this happen? _________________________________________________________________

What was the cause?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Is anyone to blame?

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Is this an emergency? Y/N , If yes have the authorities been called? Y/N (Time they were called ______)

Are there injuries or loss of life? Y/N

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Is the station running? Y/N Has it been turned to automation? Y/N (What time____________________)

Please provide a list of stakeholders this could affect directly

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

What are the concerns with this crisis?

_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Training, Rehearsals, and Testing
All members of Emmis are briefed on how communicate for the company and receive

media training when they are hired. DJ’s, along with members of the crisis team are trained on

a consistent basis. Once a year, DJs and members of the crisis team meet for alternating team

building and communications training-one year they go on a team building retreat where they

spend time together as well as learn group communications techniques, and the next year they

will attend a communications seminar with Emmis.

John Beck gets constant training every 6 months with Emmis including media and

spokesperson training.

DJs are included in the training because they are the everyday face of the organization.

Once a year, the team will be subject to a test at random times. During these times Tara

will call the other team members and tell them there is a crisis. When they arrive they will be

alerted the crisis is a test and they will work through a prompt crisis to solve a problem. They

will then be compensated for their time.

Spokesperson Training Log
Targeted Spokesperson ________John Beck _________________________________

Training Date Course Mentor

May 10, 2011 Media Counseling Ryan Juergans

November 1, 2011 Answering Hard Hilarie Troesser

Questions

May 11, 2012 Social and Traditional Wesley Thompson

Communications

November 11, 2012 Dealing with Media Bias Rachel Sipes

May 3, 2013 Key Messages Allison Stabennow

November 15, 2013 How to Convey Trust Teller Osborne

May 10, 2014 Being an Internal Marcy Dallas

Spokesperson

November 11, 2014 Radio Industry in 2014 Amy Reid

Crisis Team Training Log

Name Training Course/ Date Last Training Course/Date

Tara Graves Team Building in Cancun/ August Media Training at Emmis HQ/
2013 2012

John Beck Team Building in Cancun/ August Team Building in Vegas/ August
2013 2011

Patti McMahon Team Building in Cancun/ August Media Training at Emmis HQ/
2013 2012

Lauren Colvin Team Building in Cancun/ August Media Training at Emmis HQ/
2013 2012

John Ulett Team Building in Cancun/ August Media Training at Emmis HQ/
2013 2012

Rich Dawson Team Building in Cancun/ August Media Training at Emmis HQ/
2013 2012

Guy Favazz Team Building in Cancun/ August Media Training at Emmis HQ/
2013 2012
Evaluation
At KSHE, a crisis isn’t over until we have regained trust among our audiences
and stakeholders. To measure that, monitoring of the audiences identified in the
Crisis Work Sheet will happen as deemed appropriate by Tara Graves. For
example, listeners will always be a stakeholder to consider and their trust can be
measured by social media monitoring. Ratings can also be compared. If there is a
drop after a crisis, and the drop has recovered, listeners have returned.

After a crisis has ended, an evaluation meeting will be held. The team will look at the

following criteria:

• How well were key messages delivered by the spokesperson and in print and

digital materials?

• How quickly did we act?

• Were we covered favorably in the press? Consider the roles of “hero”, “victim”,

and “villain”

• Was our message accessible to all stakeholders?

• How was name equity damage minimized?

• Did we plan for this event?

• What can we do better next time?

These questions will be answered as a team and compiled with the rest of the documents from

the crisis, it will then be uploaded into Google Docs and sent to Emmis Corporate. Anyone from

the team can view it for future purposes. It will come in handy for other crises. Corporate can

also use it for other crises, and to see how the team at KSHE is doing.
• KSHE 95 “Real Rock Radio” was one of the first radio stations to play
rock music in 1967, making it the longest running rock station in the
world.

• In KSHE’s 45 years it has been responsible for the success of several

popular rock musicians, such as Sammy Hagar.

• St. Louis counts on KSHE for more than just music and personalities.
The biannual KSHE “Rock ‘N Roll Up Your Sleeve Blood Drive”
(Summer and Winter) continues as the largest media sponsored
blood drive in the country. Over 130,000 usable units of blood have
been collected. KSHE also regularly raises money for several
organizations like St. Louis Children’s Hospital through participation
from loyal fans.

• KSHE operates out of The Powerhouse building in Union Station with

its sister stations 105.7 The Point, KHITS, and 97 The Talk.

• KSHE is owned by Emmis Communications, which is the 9th largest

radio group in the US. Emmis is based out of Indianapolis, Indiana.
Issues Management
Issues management is the process of monitoring industries and society to

prepare for and deal with issues before they turn into a crisis. The goal of issues

management is to prevent a crisis from happening, unlike crisis management which

deals with a crisis after it has happened.

Issues management is a five-step system of monitoring and analyzing issues. The

first step is Issue Identification; it involves scanning the environment (culture, society,

entertainment, social media, etc.) to figure out what forces are influential to people,

and what people are concerned about. Part of scanning is also dedicated to keeping an

eye on a brand’s name and image. This is easy today with social media, a simple hashtag

search can reveal a lot about how people feel about a company.

Once an issues has been discovered it is important to analyize it to see what

impact it could have. Issues have a lifespan; they start in the grassroots with people

speaking up. Once people have made enough chatter it becomes a topic of policy

agenda-and soon after legalization where laws are passed regarding the issue. At that

point, companies are forced to act a certain way. As you might assume, the earlier and

issue is discovered the more choices we have to do something.

The fourth step is to act, implement a plan. In some cases the right plan can take

an issue that could hurt us and turn it into something that gives us an advantage if
handled correctly. After an action is taken it is important to evaluate the entire process

to make sure the process is productive and that the issues will not reappear.
Possible Crisis Scenarios

1) DJ hijinks or promotion gone wrong- For radio stations, this is the number one cause

for crisis.* Sometimes, while having fun DJs say or do things that can be careless or

ill-conceived. This can bring bad press on the station, but also if bad enough,

lawsuits and FCC fines. There is no way to completely avoid this but Emmis has a

practice of treating their people well and giving them the tools to succeed, and that

will be rewarded.

2) Natural Disaster- Any number of natural disasters could affect the Power House

building, or the KSHE tower in Crestwood. It is important for drills to be practiced

regularly, and for emergency resources to be stored such as food, water, and first

aid.

3) Industry Issues- The radio and music industry have faced a great deal of challenged

in the last few decades. Digital media may be a threat, but terrestrial radio is still

doing well. Emmis has been making leaps to stay ahead in the industry. NextRadio is

a program that uses FM receivers in smartphones that allows customers to listen to

radio without using their data.* However, as the industry has seen, with just a

simple innovation radio could easily be on the chopping block. It is important to stay

ahead of industry trends so we can plan ahead.