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Why Radio Interviews?
by Bryan Farrish
www.radio-media.com
If you are a public speaker, or if you are a
professional who has a strong viewpoint on a particular
topic, then you no doubt have considered interviewing with
your local newspaper, radio or TV outlet so that you can
get your viewpoint out, and so you can generate some sales
and/or sales leads for your business. And while all the
different media would certainly be welcome, you may not
have the time and energy required to do them all; thus
we'd like you to focus on just radio interviews. This is
why you should consider pursuing only radio:
INSTANT FEEDBACK: Only broadcast media can give you
instant phone calls (either to the show, or to your own
number) or instant traffic to your site. This makes
tracking much easier since you can tell immediately what
show/station is pulling best for you. With print, you may
end up with several pieces circulating at once, so finding
out which one is working (and which one is wasting your
time) can be difficult.
CAN BE DONE ON THE RUN: Since by definition you are
working/involved in other areas besides media, stopping
everything you are doing so that you can go through a one
or two hour TV or print interview can be difficult to say
the least. Radio is the only medium that allows you
instant feedback WHILE you are on the run; no stopping by a
TV station, and no meeting with a print reporter.
THE MOST OUTLETS: In any city or town, there are more
radio stations than TV stations and newspapers combined.
This becomes very important once you have gotten good at
doing your interviews, and you then want to make the best
use of the approach you have developed. Also, once one of
the media (say, radio) sees that you are doing a good job
interviewing with them, others in that same medium will
want to follow suit; thus you'll want to stick with the
medium that has the most outlets. Here are the rough
numbers of radio stations in the U.S. and Canada...
2,400 Country (all styles)
2,070 Oldies (1920's to 1980's, all styles)
1,910 Religious (including Christian, Gospel, and Ministry)
2,000 News/Talk/Sports
1,709 Adult Contemporary (all styles)
830 Rock/Alternative
665 Variety
456 Top 40
300 Urban (all styles)
730 Non-English
228 Classical/Jazz
50 Kids
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13,348 Total
These numbers include all possible broadcast stations,
whether the stations are commercial or non-commercial,
large or small, or AM or FM. They do not include any non-
broadcast (i.e., cable or internet) stations, because of
the low listenerships of these types of stations.
SEVERAL CAN BE DONE IN A ROW: Since there are so many
radio stations, you can make good use of your time by
scheduling as many phone interviews in one day as
possible. Since you are live-on-the-air, stations have a
vested interest in not wasting your time or theirs; you'll
be off talking to the next station before you know it.
NO MAKEUP IN THE STUDIO: This applies to men also. Unless
your topic or area of interest requires visuals (like maybe
hairloss or juggling,) then you are going to love being
able to do live-in-studio radio interviews without putting
on makeup for the camera.
GOOD PRACTICE FOR YOUR OWN SHOW: This is one of the best
reasons to stick with radio for your interview medium.
Many folks do their interviews with the long-term goal of
starting their own radio program. This is very feasible in
radio; your own TV show, however, is going to be quite a
stretch, and your own magazine or newspaper probably isn't
going to happen anytime soon. A weekly half-hour radio
show, or even a 2-minute special, is easily done even by
beginners.
Bryan Farrish is an independent radio interview promoter.
He can be reached at 818-905-8038 or www.radio-media.com
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