Do
you think you’re the next Imus, Rush Limbaugh, or Howard Stern? Do you want your own radio show?
I’ve
been asked at least a few times over the years about how to get a radio
show. Authors want to promote their
brand and views, and radio is one of the best mediums to do both. The path to having your own radio show is a
much easier one than having your own TV show.
Radio
has a lot of opportunity. There are
thousands of stations with 168 hours of weekly programming to fill. Many stations carry syndicated content for a
big chunk of the day. There are also
plenty of local radio shows.
How
does an author get his or her own show?
Path
1: Be interviewed by radio stations (as
an author for your book) and send the audio tapes or mp3 files to your local
stations and let these interviews serve as a means to get a try-out. Be prepared to demonstrate what your show
would be about, why you are qualified to launch it, and how you’ll help deliver
advertising to the station. They may
give you a monthly or weekly segment or time slot, and then determine if they
should expand, reduce or cease production.
If all goes well, you may go from being a 2-, 5-, 10-minute segment
to a daily show. If the local show goes
well, you may be able to get it syndicated.
Path
2: Buy ad time from a local station,
create your own show, and either sell ad time or sell your own books, products
or services to recoup your expenses.
Again, use the show as a try-out for a bigger stage or a paid
opportunity.
Other
options are to do a podcast and use that to build a following. Hopefully you can impress a radio show
producer and get your own show.
Things
to think about:
·
Would
you have guests?
·
Would
someone interview you on your show?
·
What
demographic will you appeal to?
·
Which
days/times are optimal for your show?
·
Will
the show be personality-driven or content-driven?
·
What
will the show’s primary theme be?
·
How
will you use social media to promote the show?
·
Do you have a voice for radio?
·
Should you co-host it?
·
What’s
missing from radio today that you can do?
Radio
is certainly more challenging (or a different type of challenge) than
writing. Authors may find it refreshing
or taxing depending on how they feel about speaking. A key factor in how well a show goes is
whether it is live or taped. Find your
way through this maze and you may just decide that radio helps expand your base
and brand, or that the printed word is your natural habitat.
Starting
your own radio show is certainly something worth exploring, especially if you
hope to capitalize on a strong writing brand.
Written In 1998
I
am feeling an overload of material around me.
I get anxiety attacks when all of this unread, untouched, unlived
knowledge confronts me. I am dwarfed by
all of the offerings of this store. And
this store is but a sampling of all the books in the public domain. And of all the books out there, what percentage
of existing knowledge do they reflect?
And what of all the undiscovered, unrecorded, unknown
knowledge-to-be? I’d hate to think of
what a bookstore in 2019 will look like.
It’ll either be the size of a mall – or the size of a kiosk, where a
computer file of millions of downloadable books awaits a credit card swipe for
browsing.
There
is too much to learn and not enough time to absorb it all. The value of knowledge today is wildly
deflated, the equivalent of a financial depression. Knowing something – anything – was worth more
20 years ago, for there was less to know then and less was required. Now we are aware so much more exists, so that
everything we know is now just a tiny fraction of what could be known. Yesterday’s genius is today’s underachieving
self-intellect. The idea of being an
expert in anything today almost seems impossible. Even in a narrowed study or very specific
field of knowledge, I suspect no one can truly grasp it all.
DID YOU MISS THESE GEMS?
18 Questions You Need To Ask To
Make Your Book A Success
Why do I search for meaning
#online?
Are authors sexy enough to sell
books?
Which books are worthy of PR?
Will Your Book Be Relevant – Or
Read – In 2014?
Interview With Leading Book
Marketer Brian Feinblum
What An Author Is Worth
65 Websites For Writers &
Publishers
Mass Communications Disconnect
Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and
ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, Media
Connect, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This
is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2014.
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