Public Relations Tips: Radio

When you are looking for people to contact so you can get on national public radio a very helpful tool is to use media directories to aid you in your search.

You can use Bacon's Media Directory. There's both an online version and a book version. That book version is very expensive and weighs a gazillion pounds. So just go to your library and ask your reference librarian. Those are very helpful because they're subject specific and can certainly point you in the right direction very easily. You can also just go to Google.com and type in the words "radio" and "show" and "health" and you can type in "public radio" if you're looking specifically for NPR shows.

You can find more information like this in How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 07:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When you want to pitch your story to get on national public radio you can do it yourself or you can seek help from a professional. Some people such as authors will choose to just call but another great way to do it is by email.

For an author to cold call, it can be tough. That said, if you don't quite feel comfortable cold calling someone, and you're the author, and you want to pitch the show yourself, maybe an email is the best way to do it. Authors, especially, are really adept at putting words together very nicely and being very persuasive on paper, so that's an option.

There is a lot more great information about getting on national public radio in How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 01:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When sending a pitch to a national public radio show you can do it electronically or you can do it on paper.

We do most of our pitching with paper, simply because we publish books, and when we send out a physical book-a hard copy of a book-we just slip in the paper press kit with it. We do not usually just send out a press release because really that only skims the surface. We normally would also include a one-page bio of the expert, the author. We would include a Q&A with the author, one where we've sort of provided them with the questions, and they've written the five- to seven-sentence answer for us. We would include any reviews that the book has received thus far that sort of helps support our claim that the book is important, or the book is well-written. We put all of that together. Usually we will get a plain, blank folder that you get at Staples, and other times it is a fancy print folder. We will put all of that information in there, and send it via mail.

There is a lot more great information where this came from and you can find it in the Audio Transcript, How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In order to get on National Public Radio it is not always necessary that you have a lot of national exposure in the past. Some first time authors and experts can get on national public radio for their first national exposure.

I publicized a book called "Coal: A Human History," about a year ago. And it was written by a woman named Barbara Freese based out of Minneapolis, and it was her first book. She was the former Assistant Attorney General of Minnesota, a lawyer by trade. And it was about the history of coal and its effects on the environment. She did a year's worth of research on this topic, went to coal mines in China and various places in the U.S., and just really did her homework, and made herself an authority in the field. I was able to get her on nine National Public Radio shows, two of which were nationally syndicated. One of them was the Morning Edition show that so many people listen to as they are driving to work each day. So it is possible for a first-time author, or an expert of some sort who perhaps has not had a lot of national exposure, to get that kind of exposure at NPR. NPR is sort of an equal opportunity place if you have a good pitch, a good topic idea and you are well-spoken and well-credentialed.

In order to find out more great information like this visit How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 08:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When you are pitching to a person in order to get on national public radio you probably will either do it over the phone, mail, or email. There is a right way and a wrong way to go about this.

If you're pitching to the person "live" on the telephone, it is quite possible that they will say, "Well, let me look at the material" or "Do you have some material that you can send to me?" And if that is the case, and you sent them by mail, you should not just count the number of days it takes to land on their desk. You should give it a few days after that so that they actually have time to look over the material, crack the spine of the book open. Also, if you sent an email or something by mail, you should not assume that they are going to contact you if they're interested. You should initiate that contact. If a day or two goes by and you have not had a response to an email, it's perfectly appropriate to send them another one, so long as you have a little fresh information to supply.

You can find a lot more helpful information like this in How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 01:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes the most successful way to get on national public radio would be to piggyback on other important events that are happening at the time. That is what the following author did and it worked perfectly for him.

We had this book called Watson and DNA that was a biography of James Watson, the guy who discovered the double helix. About a year ago, it was the 50th anniversary of the double helix, and we were able to use that in our pitch to get the author on several National Public Radio shows. And had it not been that anniversary, I don't think we would have been as successful, probably unless there had been some big genetic discovery.

If you want to find out more ideas about how to get on national public radio besides this we recommend the publication How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes the most successful way to get on national public radio would be to piggyback on other important events that are happening at the time. That is what the following author did and it worked perfectly for him.

We had this book called Watson and DNA that was a biography of James Watson, the guy who discovered the double helix. About a year ago, it was the 50th anniversary of the double helix, and we were able to use that in our pitch to get the author on several National Public Radio shows. And had it not been that anniversary, I don't think we would have been as successful, probably unless there had been some big genetic discovery.

If you want to find out more ideas about how to get on national public radio besides this we recommend the publication How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Choosing which NPR Show to pitch
Tags: national_public_radio radio_shows publicity list_of_shows

There are many, many national public radio shows that you could consider when trying to pitch your story. This is a list of a few of them:

There's a wonderful show that's nationally syndicated and done out of Boston called Living On Earth and it is about environmental concerns. They're always looking for guests. They're fantastic. There is Parent's Journal, which is wonderful for any people who've done books on parenting or can talk about a parenting issue. There is The Savvy Traveler, for any travel book writers. There is the Tavis Smiley Show, which is done out of Los Angeles, and it is particularly the African American topics and African American authors. You also have the nationally syndicated show Latino USA, and there's one called, Justice Talking, it is all about law. There's one called Piano Jazz and that's done out of New York. Its host is Marian McPartland, she's a pianist, musical talent herself.

There are more of these as well as great information about how to get on national public radio found in How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There are a couple of different aspects to NPR that are important to understand. There are specific shows that you can pitch an idea to, and pitch a guest to, and there are individual correspondents that you can pitch to. When you're pitching to a show, it's important to realize whether it is a national show, meaning it is syndicated, and it's picked by most, if not all, of the NPR affiliates stations around the country. Or it could be a local show, something like Here and Now which is a local show on WBUR here in Boston, for example, or Forum, which is a wonderful show on KQED out of San Francisco. So in order to go through the maze that is National Public Radio, you have to first figure out whether a show is national or local, and you have to determine whether you really should be pitching a show, or an individual correspondent.

In order to find out more about pitching your show on National Public Radio you can check out How to Get Booked on National Public Radio.
http://101publicrelations.com/nationalpublicradio.html?utm_source=prideas&utm_content=npr

Posted by Dan at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Print and TV reporters aren't the only ones who can have fun participating in your stories. Remember the radio folks, too. A recent promotion for a story done by a local radio station. One of the deejays who had a snoring problem was invited to the Sleep Wellness Center to see if he could be cured of snoring. I'm not sure if he was ever cured, but I remember hearing the promos for that particular story several dozen times over a two-week period.

If you're seeking publicity for a food product, a clever strategy is to hand-deliver the food to sports announcers at pro sports games. I'm a Green Bay Packers fan. And several Sundays during football season, local businesses deliver pizza, doughnuts and other food to the announcer's booth. Guess what they get? A free plug on the air that's probably much more effective than a paid commercial.

For more tips on how to involve radio personnel, see Special Report #42.

Posted by Rachael at 08:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

How do you know which topics to pitch to a particular TV show? Read the newspaper!

Almost all producers use the USAToday to keep up on the news and current issues in the nation. If you read that same information, you'll know what's on show producer's minds, and what kind of stories they're looking for.

Of course, you shouldn't be obvious and mention your pitch's connection to a specific article. But producers are more willing to consider your pitch if they can tell you've done your media research. Start thinking like a publicist: order the newspaper!

This is just one of the many tips found in How to Be A TV Talk Show Host's Dream Date.

Posted by DK at 10:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just as each different type of media outlet (radio, TV, newspapers, magazines) communicates their stories in different ways, each has a different set of needs for information in a media kit. Tailoring your media kit to fit their needs not only saves you from having to send out unnecessary materials, it also makes you look great in their eyes because you're sending them exactly what they need.

Radio

The radio bookers hardly do their research a lot of times, so a lot of times if you do provide good interview questions, they will practically read right down the list. You also want to provide some backgrounders for them so that if they actually are doing their research, they can read up on it and feel knowledgeable. They usually will not look over the product or the book all that carefully. They may not even get into it all. You just want them to be able to look at it, do a talk show, and sound credible based on what's right there.

Newspapers

Continue reading "Tailoring your media kit to fit the recipient" »

Posted by DK at 03:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Why is drive-time radio so valuable to somebody's publicity campaign and why should you try to get onto it?

There are probably more than a dozen reasons why it's important for you to actively pitch your story to drive-time radio hosts. Probably the most obvious of all is that you can make a lot of money at it. Drive-time radio can work for both big companies and for individuals who have a book to sell, or they're professional speakers, or consultants.

Some people underestimate the power of drive-time radio. They think maybe that when they're called by somebody in a small town somewhere who wants to do an interview with them about whatever their subject of expertise is that there will be only a couple of hundred of listeners. Well, I would still submit to you that even just a couple of hundred people, if you get in front of them at one time, that's not a bad deal. But if you get into some of the bigger cities, you can get in front of literally thousands and even hundreds of thousands of people at one time.

Consider the example of Bart Baggett, who's a handwriting expert. He's been on more than a thousand radio shows during his career. He was on with Howard Stern one morning. Well, first of all, that takes some guts to even get on Howard Stern's show. But Bart had plenty of experience. He handled it very well, and in one morning, he sold $25,000 worth of products and services, just from being on The Howard Stern Show. That's a home run. There's no question that you don't get those every day,

Continue reading "You need to get on drive-time radio!" »

Posted by DK at 10:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)