Public media silent auction item ideas that actually sell

For the general list, see our 100+ silent auction item ideas. A station has three categories nobody else has and members want all three.

The building and the process

• A studio tour with an engineer, which is more interesting than anyone expects
• Sitting in on a live broadcast, in the control room
• Recording a station ID in the winner's own voice
• A day shadowing a producer or a reporter
• Watching a programme cut together in the edit suite
• Naming a studio, a piece of equipment or a programme underwriting slot

Recording a station ID is the item to lead with. It costs ten minutes of studio time, the winner hears themselves on the radio, and they tell everyone they have ever met.

On-air talent

• Lunch or coffee with a host the winner listens to daily
• A host recording a personal greeting or a voicemail message
• A host speaking at the winner's club, workplace or event
• A guided visit with the person whose programme they never miss

Ask hosts individually and make declining easy — they are employees or contractors being asked to give personal time by their employer, and some will and some will not. Where a host is unionised or under an agreement, check it before listing.

The archive

• A copy of a broadcast from a date that matters to the winner
• A digitised recording of a local event the station covered
• Archival photographs of the station or the community
• A researched clip package on a local subject

The archive is the station's most under-used asset. A recording of the broadcast from the day a listener was born, or the night of a local event they remember, is an item nobody else in the county can produce — subject to rights, which is the catch below.

Programme-connected items

• Tickets and backstage access from arts organizations the station covers
• A meal at a restaurant featured on a local food programme
• A trip or tour connected to a documentary the station aired
• Books by authors the station has interviewed, signed

What needs checking first

• Anything using programme content — rights to national programming are not the station's to grant, and even local material may have contributor rights attached
• Anything naming a donating business on air, which puts acknowledgement rules in play
• Host and talent time, against any agreement that governs it
• Anything implying editorial access or influence — coverage, an interview, a mention in a story. Never, at any price
• Political and issue-advocacy sponsorship, which is a general manager decision

The fourth is the absolute one. A station can auction access to its building and its people; it cannot auction anything that touches what it broadcasts as journalism, and the appearance of it is as damaging as the fact.

General information, not legal or compliance advice for your station. Underwriting and acknowledgement rules are a licence matter and the details are fact-specific — your general manager, your licensee and communications counsel decide how any of this applies.