The spot lacks a local angle

3. The tone of the spot does not "blend" with the station's format.

4. The tapes submitted are not up to the standards of technical qual­ity required by the station.

 

The All-Important Opening

You must be cautioned against load­ing the opening sentence of a radio spot with specific names, facts, or figures. That's because radio listeners get the "index" for an item from the opening sentence. That is, they find out what the topic is, and they get the sense of why the story is important, and to whom. Then, with their attention raised, they are ready to absorb specific data. The print release might open with an information-packed lead.

Make sure to read your releases out loud, with feeling. If they are ver­bose and flat, rewrite until you feel comfortable reading the words with enthusiasm.

Live Announcer or Taped Spot?

If you have a very small budget, you may only be able to prepare a news release that you hope will be used on the radio. If you have a budget big enough to buy radio time, but not to do creative work, you may choose to write a script for the radio announcer or "talent" (deejay or program host) to read during the commercial segment of programming. If you're on the borderline—that is, if you decide that you might be able to tape your own spots—here are some of the considerations for making the decision.

In Favor of Using the Live Announcer for "Talent" The station person­nel have credibility with their listeners. When the regular program announcer or talent reads a spot, it blends into the rest of the programming and thus is harder for the regular listener to "tune out." The reader may also become enthusi­astic about the spot and add his or her own endorsement. One more plus: if the situation dictates that changes have to be made in a spot, it's easy to call the station and change a sentence in the announcer script.

Drawbacks of Using the Live Announcer An uninterested or dis­tracted announcer or talent can give your script a lackluster reading. The pace may be off. The personality of the reader simply may not match the content or style of the spot. Goofs in pronunciation or emphasis may destroy the meaning or the rhythm of the script. (Of course, if any of these problems is pronounced and you have paid for the commercial time, you can demand a "make-good" to assure that the spot is aired properly at a later time.)

 

Selecting Production Values        

If you do have a full budget and you decide to produce your own spots for distribution on tape, you will want to hire a production firm to cre­ate the product for you. Some production firms merely facilitate the technical production of the tapes, with your department or agency providing the script, talent, and direction. Full-service firms will work with you to develop a concept, produce a script, and take care of all facets of direction and production.              

Whether you are a full-service client or your own producer, it helps to know about the script and production values that will make your ra­dio spot interesting, memorable, and persuasive to the listener.

 

Stylistic Devices include:

• Humorous dialog. The device here is that one person is the foil for the other. Usually one character is uninformed in a silly or embarrassing way, and the other person—often exasperated or even condescending—sets the dummy straight by providing the needed information.

 

PSA: 30 seconds

SFX: Health club: clanging weights, huffing and puffing, aerobics music, and instructor in background.

1st Man: You're in pretty good shape, Fred.

2nd Man: (Exhaling loudly) Thanks!

1st Man: In fact, you're in great shape, Fred.

2nd Man: (Louder exhaling) Gee, thanks!

1st Man: So tell me, why aren't you signed up to donate blood next week with the rest of us at the health club?

2nd Man: (Nervous) Uh... I'm overweight.

1st Man: Fred, look at those muscles!

2nd Man: I... I'm pregnant.

1st Man: Fred!

2nd Man: I'll be out of town. I have an appointment on the moon!

1st Man: Fred, Fred, Fred.

ANNCR: Everybody has an excuse for not giving blood. But how can you use those excuses when your neighbors, friends... and your own family are counting on you? Think of donating blood as part of your physical fitness and well-being. This message brought to you by the Ameri­can Red Cross in cooperation with this station.

 

• Instructive dialog. This is a variation on the humorous dialog, with the main difference being one of tone: the uninformed person is merely lacking information, and the knowledgeable person is helpful. This is a kinder format, but may not be as in­teresting or memorable to the listener as humorous dialog.

 

PSA: 30 seconds

SFX: Health club: clanging weights, huffing and puffing, aerobics music, and instructor in background.

1st Man: So tell me, Fred, why aren't you signed up to donate blood next week with the rest of us at the health club?

2nd Man: (Nervous) I... I don't know. I just don't know if...

1st Man: It's easy and almost painless. And it takes less time than a good workout.

2nd Man: But I'm not sure if it's completely safe. You know...

1st Man: Believe me, it's safe. They take all the precautions. I should know, I've been giving regularly for all these years.

2nd Man: Well, okay, but I...

1st Man: If not you, who. Big Guy?

ANNCR: Everybody has an excuse for not giving blood. But how can you use those excuses when your neighbors, friends... and your own family are counting on you? Think of donating blood as part of your physical fitness and well-being. This message brought to you by the Ameri­can Red Cross in cooperation with this station.

 

• Monolog. Can be humorous or not, depending on the appropriateness to the subject matter. This device lends itself well to health information campaigns and other touchy subjects. A variation, of course, is the celebrity spot, in which a well-known spokesperson talks to the audience.

 

PSA: 30 seconds

SFX: Health club: clanging weights, huffing and puffing, aerobics music, and instructor in background.

Talent: I really like my workouts here at the club. I can see the improvement in my health and my outlook on life. I feel like I can face any of life's challenges when I'm in shape. That's why I felt funny when I kept finding ex­cuses for not donating blood here at the club: too busy... whatever. But that's changed now. Once I became a blood donor, I realized that it was the most impor­tant part of my routine: helping others to a healthier life... and maybe even helping myself.

ANNCR: Everybody has an excuse for not giving blood. But how can you use those excuses when your neighbors, friends... and your own family are counting on you? Think of donating blood as part of your physical fitness and well-being. This message brought to you by the Ameri­can Red Cross in cooperation with this station.

 

• Announcer copy. As discussed above, this may be as effective as more expensive and fully produced styles of presentation.

 

ANNCR: Today the Red Cross Bloodmobile will visit the Ford Motor Company plant in Edison. Employees and family members will find it in the south parking lot from 8 a.m. until 2:30 in the afternoon. If you have Type 0 blood, your donation is especially urgent. Help alleviate the critical shortage in our Tri-County area. Donate today!

 

Visualization Devices help the audience for the audio medium to Imagine and visualize what is going on. Some argue that radio can be more effective than television because each listener projects the kind of characters and speakers that appeal to him or her on the voices and sounds heard over the radio. Some visualization devices are:

• Character voices. Ethnics, young, old, stereotypes, authoritative announcers, gender roles, etc.

• Music. May set the scene (New York Street, wedding) or the mood (romantic, hectic, outdoors) and may recall happy or un­happy situations.                       

• Sound effects. Subways, busy restaurants, construction sites, of­fice settings, kitchens, and the great outdoors all can be sug­gested by brief sounds or a continuing blend of background noises.

• Cue words in the copy. (Shakespeare, whose actors did not wear costumes as they performed on bare stages, was good at this.)

" Why are you wearing that loud plaid tie, Hubert?"

"I never –thought I’d see you in a red sports car."

"Don't you know you can't put those newspapers in the trash?" All of these sentences carry words or phrases that help us visualize the setting and the action, even though we are only hearing words produced by voices.

 

Memory Devices help us retain information while listening to radio, a medium from which clippings cannot be made at one's leisure. Examples:

• Repetition. "What was that number again, Floyd? One more time!"

• Exaggeration. " Monday used to mean laundry, but now it means recycling. Monday used to mean back to work, but now it's re­cycling. Monday is the most important day in my life: recycling day!" (Repetition is also used.)

• Jingles. "Put your worries away... ride the Metro today!"

• Forewarning. "In just a moment, I'm going to give you the num­ber that could save your life, the Heart LifeUne. While you're getting a pencil and paper, let me remind you that one out of five Americans will experience..."

• Humor involving a "dense" foil. "No, Hubie, I'm telling you for the last time, you've got to register to vote. And you have to do it by March 17. Can't you remember any number bigger than the number of fingers on your hand? It's March 17 if you want to be counted in the primary election."

You may have noted that many of these devices look silly on pa­per. But they work in radio because people retain simple, entertaining information.

 

Once the public relations department or agency has placed a story on a radio program or has paid for a series of spots on local radio, the ques­tion begins to nag: Will anybody be listening? The answer is yes, be­cause thousands of people are listening to radio at any hour of the day. The real question is: Will the radio program have the desired impact? There are things you can do to assure that it will.

If you have placed a spokesperson for your organization on a talk show or a public affairs program, use internal and external media to publicize the fact. Tell employees, stockholders, customers, and any other publics you reach through print media to listen. If you have paid for a series of spots promoting your organization's point of view, call at­tention to it with brief boxed items in your employee newsletters, on bulletin boards, in notices to stockholders, and even in small print ads on the page of radio and television listings in the local newspapers.

Remember, too, that the appearance of a spokesperson on a radio talk show or public affairs program is news. An advance story to local print news media can cover the information your spokesperson plans to present on the radio show. Have a print release ready to mail to trade and business publications as soon as the broadcast is over, outlining the points your spokesperson made.

 

CHECKLIST

• Broadcast Script

• Is the format suitable for the client's campaign material? Use humor, if appropriate, and it helps make the point. Use instructive dialog if it gets points across efficiently. Use monolog for serious subject and with celebrity spokespersons. Announcer copy may be most cost-effective and persuasive.

• Is the timing correct for the designated 30-second or 60-second spot? Provide several variations in different time formats.

• Does the opening get the listener's attention? Interesting sound effects, setting, or music. Situation that intrigues the listener. Relevance to the interests or problems of the listener.

• If the script uses an announcer, is the "tag" at the end effective? Summarizes the point of the script. Repeats important information. Tells listener where to get more information. Identifies the sponsoring organization.

 

 

Television and Cable

 

If the print news release is still the bread and butter of public relations techniques, getting your organization's story on television is the peanut butter and jelly.

Partly it's because of the numbers: an article in a print medium may reach up to 5 or 10 million readers in the most popular magazines, but get a 30-second exposure on a network news program or a morning talk-news show, and your "reach" may be as many as 50 million people. Similarly, a local newspaper may reach 100,000, but the evening news show in the same area may reach half a million or more.

A mention in print is nice, but a mention on the tube is exciting. Reading a newspaper is work, and the more educated members of society are willing to do that work. But many target publics—especially those for marketing public relations campaigns and campaigns involving public issues such as health—prefer to receive and process information the effortless and entertaining way, by watching the television set.

Messages seen on television bring instant public recognition, and with it very often comes approval of an idea or program.

 

the importance of television to their successful campaigns:

• McDonald's responded to attacks for not having environmentally safe products by launching its "McRecycle USA" campaign to create markets for recycled materials. In addition to mailing video releases to television stations, the firm's public relations agency set up satellite interviews so television reporters could question McDonald's executives.

• The Royal Melbourne Hospital in Parkville, Australia, brought in a film crew to shoot scenes in the emergency room and intensive care unit showing what happened to victims of drinking-and-driving automobile accidents. When the footage was prepared as a 60-second television spot, commercial stations were so im­pressed with the impact of the message aimed at young drivers.

• When Coca-Cola used an ice-skating robot to publicize its in­volvement with the Lake Placid Winter Olympic Games, it re­leased two television film clips, which were carried by 136 television stations in 119 cities for a total of 214 telecasts that reached a projected 37 million households. A twenty-three-city tour by the robot attracted further coverage: 125 minutes of television time, reaching an audience of 30 million.

• When an Air Force Academy cadet was selected to chaperone a Colorado competitor in the International Special Olympics, the service academy's public affairs office assigned a PR prac­titioner full-time to assist ABC in preparing a television fea­ture on the relationship between the cadet host and the handicapped athlete. The human-interest angle was a major part of the network's nationwide coverage of the event on its popular "Wide World of Sports."

 

By the beginning of the 1990s, video news releases (VNRs) were gaining dramatically in usage. They typically are 30-second to 5-minute video tapes that a television station can show, in whole or part, to provide visual information in stories put together by their reporters.

The tightening of budgets for television reporting has led to in­creased use of VNRs—and to the growth of the agencies that specialize in producing them for clients.

 

Medialink—which acts as a go-between serving public relations people whose organizations have a story to tell and television or cable stations that need material—advises its clients to make the best use of the service by observing several requirements:

• The perishability of a story and its uniqueness may lead you to choose live transmission instead of taped and edited footage. Press conferences are of interest to broadcast media because of their immediacy.

• High-speed teleprinters installed and serviced by the Associ­ated Press alert newsroom decision makers to new information and advise them on how to get access to it.

• Stories with a national focus have the best chance of being used by a great number of outlets, but you can use the newswire to alert local media to special angles and tie-ins that may be of in­terest to their viewers.

• VNRs must be educational, entertaining, and interesting. They should be truthful and should not obscure bad news. Most im­portant, VNRs must be clearly identified as public relations material. Identification must include the source of production, and the name of the sponsor of the VNR.

• VNRs should be produced to be edited. That is, the client should not expect that the entire VNR will be used by all outlets, but rather that some footage will be used.

• Production values must conform to broadcast news standards and should have legitimate news value; they should not be com­mercials packaged to look like news.

• News producers should be given the choice of using an an­nouncer provided by the sponsor or their own announcer. To fa­cilitate that option, either two versions should be provided, or two sound tracks should be laid on one visual image—"natural" sound as well as announcer mixed with natural sound.