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4 Ways to Avoid Common Radio Show Disasters. Successful Media Interview
Copyright © 2002 - 2010 by Susan Harrow. All rights reserved.
It finally happened: my first radio interview. What a doozy!
Everything I've always done has been baptism by fire, so why
should this be any different? I called the station's studio
line at 5 minutes before my 1pm scheduled interview time so
I could chat briefly with the hosts to find out if they
wanted me to focus on anything in particular and establish
who would mention my web site. It rang and rang. No answer.
I continued to call. At 1:02 the nervous nelly gene kicked
in and I called my publicist. She wasn't in.
I called information for the number (It was a station in
Chicago). No listing. I persisted and got a phone number
which turned out to be for the station's business office.
The receptionist knew nothing about the program I was
supposed to be on and couldn't connect me to anyone.
At 1:10 my sweetheart, who was listening in on the Web from
Southern California, called me and said (in a loud,
irritated voice, I might add). *They're waiting for you on
the line!!! Why haven't you called in?* He gave me another
number which I called. No answer. At 1:15 I finally got a
live human being who told me he was VERY busy and would TRY
to get someone to answer the studio line. No one did. At
1:20 the host (who had my number all along, mind you) called
and said in a sweetly sarcastic tone, *Susan, we'd love to
have you join us whenever you're ready.*
When we went live, he said, *After some technical
difficulties we have Susan Harrow here discussing her book,
*Selling Yourself Without Selling Your Soul.* I quickly
corrected him. *Sell Yourself Without Selling Your
Soul®.*
Then made a light of the situation saying that I had to use
some of the breathing techniques I teach clients to keep
calm through the "*technical difficulties.*
After the faux *technical difficulties*, I was in for
another surprise. There were questions relevant to nothing
in particular (certainly not my book or subject) comments
that were totally off the wall (*More highly evolved humans
vibrate at slower levels than those less evolved*), and then
much pushing of their own products. I took my own advice,
transitioned into sound bites most relevant to the
discussion while trying to sound like we were having a
conversation that made sense. Anyway, the point is four-fold:
-
Always have a back-up number to call.
-
Maintain your equanimity in the face of utter chaos.
-
Correct errors immediately and gracefully.
-
Practice transitioning into material that you know when
asked questions that are irrelevant to your topic.
I'm happy to say that this experience hasn't been repeated
during my media tours. Everyone who I've interviewed with
has been delightful and gracious. I wish you the same
wonderful experiences.
Get more tips like this from the pros in *The Ultimate Guide
to Getting Booked on Oprah*. You'll find dozens of ideas,
advice on how to pitch Oprah producers, and insider secrets
from the best publicists in the business.
http://www.bookedonoprah.com.
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Susan Harrow, CEO of
http://prsecrets.com, is
a top media coach, marketing strategist and author of
Sell Yourself Without Selling Your Soul® (HarperCollins),
The
Ultimate Guide to Getting Booked on Oprah, and
Get a 6-
Figure Book Advance. Clients include Fortune 500 CEOs, bestselling authors and entrepreneurs who have appeared on
Oprah, 60 Minutes, NPR, and in TIME, USA Today, Parade,
People, O, NY Times, WSJ, and Inc. |
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