How to get a Radio Offer in One Hour (or less)

Placing the Pie Princess onto the Into the Soup Radio Program.

If you want to get onto a radio program, have a good story that helps the radio host connect with their audience.

Mari-Lyn Harris, the owner and chief pie-maker of Sedona Pies in Sedona AZ, creates all kinds of pies that contain “adult" ingredients; wine, beer, and liqueurs. Some of her masterpieces include Cabernet-Blueberry, Merlot and Mixed Berries, and Amaretto and Chocolate. They’re delicious!

When I heard of her pies, I realized that there was the possibility of a good story. We met and discussed her products as well as how she creates such interesting pies. During our meeting I remembered that April 28th is National Blueberry Pie Day. That’s perfect: A national day about blueberry pie, and a blueberry pie that contains Cabernet wine – it’s unusual and it ties into a specific day.

At 12:05pm on April 9th I sent a press release to our local media pitching a story about Cabernet-Blueberry pie for National Blueberry Pie Day. At 1:00 pm that same day I heard back from Heidi Lee, the host of Into the Soup, a food and cooking program on KFNX AM-1100 in Phoenix. She thought that the Cabernet pies were a great idea and wanted to have Mari-Lyn do a segment on her show on April 24th.

The response from Heidi Lee took about an hour. Why did it happen so fast? Here’s what we did:

1. April 28th is National Blueberry Pie Day. It’s a specific date on the calendar. Remember how I keep talking about the “days of the month that will get you publicity”? That’s what I mean by “leverage the ‘National Food Days’”. I personally know of 416 days, 52 weeks, and 12 months of the year that celebrate some sort of food (yes, I know…I’m weird). So whenever I hear of an unusual food, I check to see if there’s a day that fits it.
2. Cabernet-Blueberry pie is very unusual. A little research revealed that there is NO other Cabernet-Blueberry pie anywhere. Remember how I keep suggesting that you find an unusual twist to your story? This is a perfect example.

We had a story that the media would find very interesting for their audience. We provided expertise and a good timely topic. Therefore, Into the Soup was interested.

Again, we made sure that it was a good story before we sent it to the media – we didn’t just slap something together and throw it at them. Always remember: Radio people want compelling stories that their audiences want to hear. So we put together a story that would (hopefully) make the audience tell their friends “Wow! Guess what I heard about on Into the Soup!!!”

So if you’d like that kind of coverage, then do what we did with Mari-Lyn. It’s really that easy. (Well, there’s a little more to it, like how I wrote the press release, my discussions with Heidi, and how Mari-Lyn and I discussed how to be a good guest for Heidi, but I can’t reveal ALL my secrets!)

Here’s the link to Into the Soup. Look for the April 24th broadcast and click on it. It’ll play on your computer’s media player. http://intothesoup.com/soup-radio-april-24-2010

To summarize:

1. Have an unusual and interesting story.
2. Tie it into something that makes it timely.
3. Make sure you have a good story: something that will help the media connect with their audience even more.

Do that, and you’ll get coverage.

If you’d like some excellent "naughty" pies, contact Mari-Lyn Harris at Sedona Pies. Her website: www.sedonapies.com.

And if you want to listen to a great radio program about food and cooking that has great guests every week and is delivered with lots of fun and energy, listen to Into the Soup on KFNX AM-1100 every Saturday afternoon at 2:00pm Arizona time.
http://intothesoup.com/
http://www.1100kfnx.com

Thanks Heidi, for a great show!

And thanks Mari-Lyn, for great pies!