iHeartMedia, the number one audio company in America, today announced the culmination of its 2020 voter participation efforts with longtime partners When We All Vote, a national, nonpartisan nonprofit that brings together citizens, institutions, brands, and organizations to increase participation in every election; The National Urban League, a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice; Democracy Works, a nonpartisan, nonprofit that builds technology to simplify and modernize the voting process; Every Vote Counts, a celebratory special that will bring artists, musicians, performers, and community leaders together in an aim to uplift the power of civic action, and remind and inspire all Americans of the power of their voice and their vote; and others with a robust seven-day series of programing that will include a series of radio and digital PSAs, on-air interviews, podcasts, live broadcast, and several local activations in an effort to encourage voter participation and address local challenges in the final days leading up to Election Day.
For the last three months, iHeart has worked with a broad range of organizations to increase voter turnout for the 2020 presidential election and to ensure that all voices are heard. With more than 270 million monthly listeners to its broadcast assets alone, iHeartMedia has the largest reach of any media outlet in America and remains committed in these final days to reaching its diverse audiences in the hundreds of local communities it serves through targeted media campaigns.
In the next seven days, iHeart will amplify its existing partnerships and programs to include several new media campaigns and unique activations aimed to inform, educate and inspire listeners to turn out and vote.
When We All Vote: An all-new When We All Vote PSA voiced by Co-chair and Former First Lady Michele Obama will begin airing today across over 560 iHeartMedia radio stations, and will encourage voters to vote early and safely and to have a plan to vote on November 3.
Additionally, this past weekend through October 31, iHeart will promote When We All Vote Together Early Vote Weeks of Action, which includes activations near early vote polling places to give voters the support they need and build momentum around early voting in a number of markets, including Atlanta, Milwaukee, Los Angeles and Philadelphia. Additionally, Crystal Carson, Vice President of Communications and Culture for When We All Vote will appear on iHeartRadio’s national long-form community affairs show for an interview to air the weekend before election day discussing the importance of having a plan to vote safely together.
Every Vote Counts: iHeartMedia is a presenting media partner for Every Vote Counts: A Celebration of Democracy, a nationally televised and streamed event, that will air on iHeartMedia radio stations and the app on Thursday, October 29, 2020 at 9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT. Artists, musicians, performers, and community leaders will come together for a nonpartisan celebration of American democracy, with the goal of uplifting the power of civic action and celebrating the precious value of every single citizen’s right to vote.
Hosted by Alicia Keys, America Ferrera and Kerry Washington, with appearances by Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, Cobie Smulders, Coldplay, Condoleezza Rice, Eva Longoria, Jennifer Lopez, John Kasich, Kelly Clarkson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Natalie Portman, Shaquille O’Neal, Tan France and Wilmer Valderrama, and with performances by Alicia Keys, Dan + Shay, Offset and Shawn Mendes, Every Vote Counts will honor, and celebrate the power of voting through music, dance and dialogue.
National Urban League: Over the last several weeks iHeart radio stations have been supporting the Urban League’s #ReclaimYourVote, a social change campaign committed to harnessing Black collective power and increasing Black participation in the 2020 election. The campaign will continue to be heavily promoted on-air and across iHeartMedia’s national and social media channels this week and will focus on mobilizing first time voters and communities of color to the polls during the early voting period through Election Day.
Additionally, National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial will appear on iHeartRadio’s national long-form community affairs show to discuss the importance of Black voter turnout at this critical moment in history. Additionally, stations across the country will host Mr. Morial for a live discussion as part of their final voter participation efforts.
“Why I’m Voting”: On August 10, iHeart launched “Why I’m Voting,” a new, non-partisan campaign asking musicians, cultural influencers, athletes and listeners from all walks of life to share what mattered to them most in one of the most consequential election years of our lifetime. “Why I’m Voting” is iHeart’s largest civic engagement campaign in company history and has generated over 1.3 billion media impressions and has drawn upon hundreds of real-life emotional stories of inspiration from listeners across the entire country to motivate voter participation.
Stories from artists and celebrities includingBillie Eilish, Baratunde Thurston, Chelsea Handler, Dan Reynolds (Imagine Dragons), Dan & Shay, Darius Rucker, Diplo, DJ Khaled, Fall Out Boy, FINNEAS, French Montana, Jason Derulo, John Legend, Jewel, La La Anthony, Melissa Etheridge, Michelle Williams, Pitbull, Prince Royce, Saweetie, Selena Gomez and Will Ferrell have aired on iHeartMedia’s broadcast radio stations, podcasts, social media platforms and the iHeartRadio App nationwide.
Democracy Works: In response to the additional voting challenges caused by COVID-19, iHeart teamed up with Democracy Works to address state-specific rules and regulations to ensure that all ballots are submitted properly and counted. For the last several weeks through Election Day, iHeart will continue to air PSAs pushing listeners to voter.tips/iheart and local state websites for details on early voting and criteria for absentee voting. iHeart also featured Mike Ward, VP of Voter Engagement for Democracy Works on its national community affairs program which can be accessed on iHeartRadio.
iHeartLatino: For the last several months, iHeartLatino has been promoting voter registration and providing information to listeners around early voting through on-air media and live interviews. Over the next week, the network will continue to point listeners to vote.gov for state-specific information in Spanish and will continue to run Why I’m Voting PSAs voiced by Prince Royce, Leslie Grace and Pitbull also in Spanish.
Local Partnerships: All of iHeart’s radio stations and personalities will continue their efforts this week to encourage voter participation and will be launching final push programs with a number of local nonprofits and state organizations designed to ensure that listeners feel empowered to vote and have a safe plan for Election Day. Many stations are using this week to offer listeners insights into some of the measures and propositions voters will find on their local ballots.
“iHeart is committed to serving listeners and communities across the country and ensuring they have the information they need to vote in the upcoming election,” said Bob Pittman, Chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia. “Our partnership with leading civic engagement organizations, including The National Urban League, Democracy Works, NAACP, Global Citizen, When We All Vote and more, has allowed us to leverage their expertise in reaching voters in a very thoughtful and impactful way. Additionally, our creation of “Why I’m Voting” has allowed us to represent a wide range of voices encouraging everyone to be sure to vote.”
