Submitting Public Service Announcements to Radio Stations

Are you raising money for a cause through a bake sale? Is your church putting on a Holiday musical?

Each week we receive numerous electronic requests to broadcast information about community events and organizations over the Megatalk airwaves. I am thrilled by the magnitude of responses that are flowing into the community@kitz1400.com inbox and I wanted to pass along some simple tips that will greatly enhance the chances of your information being aired on our stations as well as other media entities.

- Include an abstract text with the 5 w's in the body of your email, even when sending and attachment.

Most radio stations will be able to put this information into a script and cut and paste for web and social networking applications. The majority of the emails I receive read as follows, "Can you please broadcast information about our event coming up in November? (please see attachment)"

- Plan accordingly before your email blitz.

Utilizing online databases is an effective way to navigate the broadcast management hierarchy. In Washington, the WSAB (Washington Association of Broadcasters) directory lists the primary contact (including my name) at each media outlet. You can find it here. It certainly helps to address your email to a specific individual, rather than creating a spam-like campaign. 

Last week we received a note requesting airtime the day before an event... Enough said!

- Wing It!

There was only one Edward Murrow and one Walter Cronkite. The rest of us are unique in the ways in which we communicate. Do not be intimidated by the idea of writing, voicing, and producing the PSA yourself. You do not have to sound like a jock, nor are expected to. Most of us in the media industry prefer a change and differing presenter to the voice over kings when airing community information. With home digital audio recording software and hardware readily available and affordable, compiling a :30 second or :60 mp3 or wav file can be done efficiently and effectively.