Today’s Downsizer-Dispatch…
DownsizeDC.org President Jim Babka is going to be appearing on the largest, local, talk radio station in the nation Saturday. I’ll give you the details in this message. But first, I want to tell you how it happened.
DownsizeDC.org is “magnetic.” We purposely designed our website, chose our target (Congress), and built an issue like the Read the Bills Act (RTBA) so that we can attract people who are frustrated by the size, the power, and the burden of Big Government. It’s working.
And our RTBA is perfect talk radio fodder. Every single show Jim Babka has been on has really liked the idea. Now, they don’t all believe it can pass. And that gives Jim an opportunity to explain how and why it will become law.
The interview airing tomorrow was taped yesterday. These hosts, John & Ken, loved the idea of RTBA, but they were skeptical it could pass.
We tell you about these interviews in Dispatch messages so that you can see that we’re out promoting RTBA and DownsizeDC.org — that we’re earning your support. We also tell you so that you can listen for yourself and hear how we sell DownsizeDC.org — hear how and why RTBA will pass.
Because RTBA is perfect talk radio fodder, scheduling interviews isn’t really difficult. The problem for us is that we have the capacity to do several interviews a month, but not the capacity to have a full-fledged media operation in-house. We want to be as efficient as possible with our resources. And so, we turn to you.
The John & Ken appearance airing on Saturday came about as a result of a DC Downsizer. We don’t know who it was. The show wouldn’t tell Jim. But they said that they received an email from a listener who is on our list.
Jim was told that they’ve learned over the last year or so that one of the big problems is that Congress doesn’t even know what’s in most of their bills. So they were blown away to learn that there was a group out there making an issue of it. And all it took was a single email.
Not all shows are that easy. But let me suggest to you that we can make it easy. It’s easier — much, much easier — to lobby a talk show host or producer, than it is a Senator. They have a beast to feed. Each day, they need new and interesting topics — informative and entertaining guests. They need our help!
We believe we can become very popular on talk-radio. More than half the shows that have Jim on, invite him back. So the key is getting that first appearance.
Here’s how a lean-and-efficient operation like ours can do it.
1) We’ve provided a page for you to tell us “where the bodies are buried.” Here’s the link.
You know your market better than we can. What shows should we try to get on? But don’t stop there. Please do a minimal amount of research for us. Take a look at the form, and then please, find out how to contact the producer. A general show email address isn’t enough. How do they schedule guests? Who is the contact? Do they prefer email or phone? What is their email address or phone number?
We know if we hear from more than one DC Downsizer, that we have a really good show. A show in Virginia was submitted by four different DC Downsizers. We received 20 new DC Downsizers during and immediately after Jim’s appearance on that show. That’s the potential here.
AND WE’LL MAKE YOU THIS PROMISE: if you do the research and submit it, we’ll make repeated contacts with the show to pitch our topic!
2) Let the show know about DownsizeDC.org and RTBA. This increases the odds they’ll take the call from us or reply to the email the first time we try. And if they hear from more than one of you, it increases the odds even more. In fact, we’ve had roughly half-a-dozen shows this year call us because they heard about us from a DC Downsizer.
Here are the details for Jim Babka’s talk radio appearance tomorrow. BTW, you’ll love how they started the interview…
Date: Saturday, August 5, 2006
Location: Los Angeles, CA and on the Internet
Time: 7:00 pm Pacific, 6:00 pm Central
5:00 pm Mountain, 4:00 pm Pacific
Jim Babka is a guest on the John & Ken Show on KFI AM 640.
You can listen on the Net at www.KFIAM640.com
Thank you for being a DC Downsizer,
Perry Willis
Communications Director
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.