The two-minute, weekday From Here To Security: Your Map To Financial Freedom (FHTS) radio program was heard on 121 stations and reached listeners in 17 states.  FHTS generated over 275,000 daily impressions and reached some 1.4 million radio listeners every week.  Bank of America funded FHTS throughout the program's run (from September 8, 1997 through August 7, 1998).  During this time, FHTS generated almost 50 million listener impressions.

The From Here To Security radio program was written and co-hosted by long-time consumer advocates William Kent Brunette and Gerri Detweiler.  Brunette was the chief consumer lobbyist for the American Association of Retired Persons for over 15 years.  Detweiler formerly served as the Executive Director of BankCard Holders of America and as the Policy Director for the National Council of Individual Investors.  Both Brunette and Detweiler are authors of popular “how-to” personal finance books and are well known in the consumer advocacy community.

Highlights of the FHTS radio program included the following:

High quality, state-of-the-art, digital, compact disc production of 170 distinct two-minute radio programs which included narratives by the hosts, personal vignettes, on-the-street sound bites from typical consumers, and interviews with nationally known consumer advocates, experts, and authors.

FHTS delivered valuable consumer education messages to the masses on an on-going basis.  The program de-mystified financial issues and helped people understand and adopt prudent financial management practices.

Messages featured basic information on a wide range of financial topics of importance and interest to Americans from all walks of life, age, ethnic, and economic groups.

FHTS provided depth and balance of coverage.  For example, a one-day segment focused on how to protect yourself against ATM fraud; a three-day series showed listeners how to shop for mutual funds; a week-long series provided details on home buying.  Important topics, like the need to develop a financial plan, how to choose investments, or how to deal with credit card debt, were discussed on multiple shows.

The information provided was unbiased and non-commercial.  Financial basics were summarized in an upbeat, interesting, informative, and easy-to-understand fashion.  Issues were identified along with an explanation of why they should be important to many people.  Simple action steps and helpful hints that listeners could easily incorporate into their lives were frequently offered.

The FHTS radio program represented a creative and innovative way to disseminate important messages to people where they work, live, and play.  From composing original theme music, to having male and female hosts, to creating a natural give-and-take between the hosts, to taking complex issues, explaining them in down-to-earth terms, and making them come alive to millions of listeners, FHTS appealed to people on their levels and focused attention on circumstances with which different consumers could easily relate.

FHTS helped millions of listeners better understand financial issues by giving them directions on how not just to survive by to thrive in today’s financial marketplace.  The program helped people overcome their intimidation with different financial issues and eased listeners into greater comfort levels when making financial decisions.

FHTS programming was made available free-of-charge to commercial radio stations in 17 states through an attractive promotional mailer, follow-up phone calls, broadcast faxes, bounce back response cards, special e-mail address, special web site, and special toll-free telephone number.  Usable News Productions created, produced, and syndicated the program.  It also conducted station relations and sent CDs containing new batches of programs to stations about every six weeks.  Bank of America’s sponsorship was identified in an opening billboard “brought to you every weekday by Bank of America” or “Bank of America brings you this program every weekday.”