Radio, Television, and the Web

1
Radio, Television, and the Web

• Chapter 15

2
Broadcasting Reaches Vast Majority of Americans
on a Daily Basis

• Chapter discusses tactics used by PR personnel
  when they use radio, television and the web on
  behalf of their employers and clients. Important
  to know because
• Television reaches a mass audience150 million
  viewers daily watch local TV news. Network news
  reaches another 30 million, and another 34
  million people watch regional and national cable
  news programs. Seventy percent of Americans list
  local TV news as their No. 1 source of
  information.
• Radio13,000 U.S. radio stations reach 150
  million Americans daily. And each week it is
  estimated that 94 percent of Americans ages 12
  and up listen to radioa total audience of 223
  million. A large part of radios listenership
  are motorists, as Americans spend an average 50
  in their cars each workday.

3
Using Television

• PR pros utilize four approaches for getting an
  organizations news and viewpoints on local
  television
• Send a news release
• Send a media alert or advisory
• phone or email the assignment editor and make a
  pitch
• produce a video news release (VNRs)
• Other television options satellite media tours
  (SMTs)arranging or booking personal appearances
  on television (and radio) news programs, talk
  shows

4
TV Personal Appearances

• TV and radio stations increasingly operate on
  round-the-clock schedules and require vast
  amounts of programming to fill the time available
  
• Savvy PR people can get their people on talk and
  magazine-style shows
• Must be familiar with opportunities out there
  with programs and shows locally and nationally
  research the formats and contents, the audiences
  reached
• Watch the programs and study their formats

5
TV Appearances (more)

• On network TV, three shows are considered the
  Holy Grail for publicists NBCs Today,
  ABCs Good Morning America, and CBS Early
  Show
• Collectively these shows draw about 14 million
  viewers between 7 and 9 a.m. every weekday

6
Local TV and Radio Opportunities

• Channel 5 and Channel 2 Talkback- style
  issue-oriented QA segments
• Channel 4s Lowcountry Live and Channel 5s
  Midday program
• Comcast Cable locally as public affairs and local
  sports program.
• News radio WTMA and WSC morning and afternoon
  programs are local-news and talk driven (WMTA is
  simulcast on Comcast)
• Research the hosts and producers
• Contact them with guest/topic ideas

7
Radio Opportunities

• While TV has VNRs, radio has ANRs (audio news
  releases)
• Are also prepared based on time 30 seconds, 60
  seconds for example as opposed to columns inches
  or words for print
• In radio releases, a more conversational style is
  used, and the emphasis is on strong, short
  sentences
• This allows the announcer to breathe between
  thoughts and the listener to more easily follow
  what is being said

8
Tips for Successful ANRs and VNRs

• TopicalityRemember the newsroom maxim News is
  about issues that matter to the majority of
  listeners or viewers
• Timeliness Another newsroom maxim The favorite
  word is now followed by today and then
  tomorrow. The least favorite word is
  yesterday
• Localization Reporters are always seeking a
  local angle. Maxim If its not local, its
  probably not news
• Humanizationshow how real people are involved or
  affected. Maxim People relate to people- and
  animals.

9
Tips (contd)

• Visual Appeal- Successful VNRs and ANRs provide
  vibrant, compelling soundbites or video footage
  that subtly promotes, but also illustrates and
  explains. Newsroom maxim Say dog, see dog.

10
Radio and TV PSAs

• Public Service Announcements (PSAs)these are
  defined by the FCC as unpaid announcements that
  promote the programs of government or voluntary
  (non-profit) agencies or that serve the public
  interest
• As part of their responsibility to serve the
  public interest, radio and TV stations provide
  airtime to charitable and civic organizations to
  make the public aware of and educate them about
  such topics as heart disease, mental illness, and
  AIDS

11
RMTs and SMTs

• Radio media tours and satellite media tours are a
  series of prebooked one-on-one interviews for
  radio or television from a fixed location
  (usually a radio or TV studio) via satellite or a
  network with television or radio journalists,
  hosts or DJs

12
The Web

• The Web is also a major vehicle for distributing
  information and reaching millions of people.
• Online news sites are increasing, today there are
  more than 6,000.
• A study found that more than 50 percent of the
  110 million users of the Internet in the U.S. use
  this medium as a source of news and information.
  
• MSNBC.com is one of the biggest, reaching 4
  million viewers/readers a day, an audience no
  daily newspaper in the U.S. can match.
• PR people must now include the Web in your plans!
  

13
Weblogs and Social Networks

• Weblogs or blogs have become an integral part of
  the Internet. These are essentially regularly
  updated online personal journals with links to
  items of interest on the Web.
• Facebook.com and Myspace.com are forms of blogs
  popular among young people.
• PR pros are starting to pitch stories to Weblogs
• Webcasts and streaming videoorganizations are
  increasingly using Webcasts to transmit news
  conferences and interact with journalists.

14
Product Placement

• More and more accepted today than five/ten years
  ago
• TVs dramas and comedy shows, as well as the film
  industry, are good vehicles for promoting a
  companys products and services
• Such product placements or plugs are often
  negotiated by product publicists and talent
  agencies
• E.T. is credited with PPs coming of age with
  use of Hersheys Reeses Pieces candy (sales
  skyrocketed!). MMs turned down the opportunity
  considered a classic marketing mistake!
• The Apprentice and American Idol have been at
  the forefront of product placement

15
Issues Placement

• A logical extension to product placement is
  convincing popular TV programs to write an issue
  or cause into their plotlines
• The National Campaign for Teen Pregnancy, for
  example, works very hard to get the issue of teen
  pregnancy placed into programming
• Cancer, diabetes, drug abuse, alcoholism are
  among the medical/health issues organizations
  lobby producers to work into scripts

16
Other Product Placement Types

• Agreements with radio stations to promote a
  product or event as part of their programming
• 10th caller gets a prize or tickets!
• A nonprofit group sponsoring a fund-raising
  festival/event may arrange for a radio or TV
  station to cosponsor as part of the stations own
  promotional activities
• Radio and TV stations have promotions directors
  who are experts in such activities