NonStop Local’s Eric Jordan discusses building stronger client relationships, revitalizing old promotions, and driving revenue through interactive sponsorships.

We caught up with Eric Jordan, General Sales Manager at NonStop Local, to learn how his station is turning viewer engagement into revenue using Megaphone TV’s interactive sponsorship platform. Based in Spokane, Washington, NonStop Local is part of a small but scrappy broadcast group that’s seeing big results.

First, can you tell us about NonStop Local and the community you serve?

Eric Jordan: Absolutely. We’re way up near the Canadian border in eastern Washington—about four hours from Seattle. Our audience is a 70/30 split between Washington and Idaho. It’s an outdoor-oriented community. A lot of people retire here for the pace, the nature, and the lifestyle.

We’re also a legacy station in the market. While the NonStop Local brand is relatively new, we’ve been CHQ Q6 for over 50 years. The rebrand helped us unite several stations in Montana and Idaho under one umbrella. But the heart of what we do—local coverage, deep community roots—hasn’t changed.

How connected are you to your community?

How has your experience with Megaphone TV been?

Eric: It’s exceeded expectations. Megaphone TV is affordable, easy to use, and it delivers results. We’ve been using it for over a year, and it’s become a revenue generator for us and a big hit with clients.

Our market isn’t the most digitally sophisticated—we don’t have major digital agencies in town—but Megaphone TV makes interactive content simple. Our audience gets the QR codes, the games, and the polls. It works.

What challenges were you facing before Megaphone TV?

Eric: We used to do contests the old-fashioned way. Take Hoopfest, for example—it’s the largest 3-on-3 basketball tournament in the world. We’d run contests through Facebook, asking people to comment to enter. Then someone on our team had to build a database manually. It was a nightmare.

With Megaphone TV, we flipped that. Now we have real graphics, a live QR code, and automatic data collection—it’s a total game-changer. We went from a highly manual process to almost zero effort, and we made more money. We’ll be doing it again this year.

So, has Megaphone helped open new doors for sponsorship?

Spokane Valley Theatre – an account the NonStop Local lost, and then won back, with the help of Megaphone TV.

Eric: Definitely. One great example is Spokane Valley Summer Theatre. A few years ago, we lost them to a competitor who threw in the kitchen sink—tons of added value, no-charge promos, you name it.

This year, we came back with a Megaphone TV quiz about their show. People could answer and enter to win tickets, and we collected first-party data. During the pitch, the client pulled out their phone, zapped the QR code, and said, “This is awesome.” We won the business back: $10,000 we wouldn’t have gotten without Megaphone TV.

How have your advertisers responded to Megaphone TV?

Eric: They love it. Especially the data. Everyone wants first-party data now. When I can hand over a list of 10 or 15 people who’ve opted in, they see the value. It’s lead generation, plain and simple.

And it’s engaging. We recently ran a Word Scramble, and clients loved the interactivity. Their branding shows up, people play the game, and then the banner or video appears. They feel like they own the whole experience without having to lift a finger.

How do you position Megaphone TV in your ad sales strategy?

Eric: Two ways. First, it helps us take the pressure off our news department. In the past, if we had a ticket giveaway, we’d ask producers or anchors to do something with it. But breaking news happens. Sometimes they forget. Sometimes it doesn’t air. And that puts us in a bad spot with clients.

Now, with Megaphone, we move those promotions into Interactive30s – into spot time. We control it. We know it’ll run. That alone improves our relationship with news and makes our contests more consistent.

Second, it helps us charge a premium. Because of our engagement and value, we ask for specific placements and get them, driving up our average unit rate.

Our clients hadn’t really experienced interactive TV like this before. Most of them have QR codes on their print or digital ads, but they don’t work. You run a TV spot with a generic QR code, and no one zaps it. That’s not how consumers behave.

But with Megaphone, we’re giving viewers a reason to engage. “Enter to win.” “Play this game.” That’s fun. That drives results.

What kind of results are you seeing?

Eric: A great example is a campaign we ran in February with Mustard Seed, a local Asian fusion restaurant. We did three weeks of word scrambles. Each week, we gave away a $100 gift card.

The first week, they were late getting us creative, so we really pushed it on-air. That afternoon, they sold out of a featured dish. It wasn’t just awareness—it was foot traffic. That’s the kind of tangible result we love to show clients.

How are your viewers responding?

Eric: It’s been an adjustment. At first, people wanted to interact through Facebook, especially with our anchors. But we’re retraining that behavior. Now, we direct them to the Megaphone experiences.

We’ve seen a steady shift. Viewers enjoy it. It’s a new way to interact with their TV, and we can take that engagement from linear to digital to social, multiplying the impact.

Final question. Would you recommend Megaphone TV to other stations?

Eric: Not my competitors! But seriously, yes. The ROI has been fantastic. The platform is easy, intuitive, and powerful. Even our news team loves it. The polls, engagement, and live updates enhance everything we do.

We’re a midsize market. We have to hustle, and Megaphone TV has helped us turn interactivity into real, measurable revenue.