Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch…
You fund it. We do it. Last week we asked for help in starting a media campaign. You responded and we’re doing it. Jim Babka appeared on two radio shows this week (Note: Jim will be traveling on behalf of Downsize DC next week and won’t do interviews, but we’ll be getting back to them when he returns).
And that’s only the beginning.
Now there’s something you can do that doesn’t require additional contributions!
Do you want to hear Downsize DC President Jim Babka talk about DownsizeDC.org and the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) on your local radio stations? Do you want us to recruit your local talk show hosts to the RTBA coalition, so they will talk about RTBA even when Jim isn’t scheduled for an interview? If so . . .
We need your help to build a media list of local talk shows all around the country. Your funding helps us hire a person to make calls to book the interviews, to send Jim Babka to do the interviews, but your volunteer efforts can provide a Top Quality list for that person to call, without our having to spend the money to buy lists from others. And I say, “Top Quality,” because we assume that you know your market in a way we don’t or can’t – you know the best shows to contact, the friendliest hosts.
It’s simple. Call your local radio station and ask for the name of the Producer of a talk show you listen to. Ask if the Producer prefers to be contacted about potential guests by phone, fax, or email. Get all three if you can, and make note of the preferred mode of contact. These are the essentials. Once you have this information you can go and enter it into the form we’ve provided. Then we’ll go to work trying to schedule an interview.
This is all you need to do. But it would be helpful if you could do more. It would be valuable if you could assemble any other information about the show. The call letters, the dial position, name of the host, name of the station, broadcast time, etc. You might want to take a look at the form, even print it out and have it front of you when you call, to see what kind of information we’d ideally like to have.
But the key thing is the name of the show, the host, the Producer’s name, the Producer’s contact information, and the preferred mode of contact.
By the way, it isn’t helpful to suggest we appear on some major national program, unless you have the booking contact and their direct number. We want to create a groundswell, and ideally, this will come by doing lots of local appearances. Singles and doubles are great right now. Home runs will come soon.
America needs to hear about RTBA and DownsizeDC.org. Please help us build our media list, so we can book Jim Babka to be heard in your area.
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
PS: We still need to raise more money to hire a PR firm for contacting the national media about RTBA. You can contribute here.
PPS: Monthly credit card pledgers are the most helpful kind of contribution, because they enable us to make reliable plans. To start a monthly credit card pledge click here.