RADIO INTERVIEW 101 Comparing The Number Of Interviews To Listeners

Since radio has no visual way of showing you how many people are listening, when a guest does a radio interview by phone, he or she often doesn't know why they end up getting zero book sales (or public speaking engagements, or coaching clients, etc.) The reason is always two fold: The way they announced their contact info, and, the number of listeners that are listening. The announcing aspect has already been covered; we'll now cover how many radio listeners there are.

The number of listeners is usually in direct proportion to the market size, but not always. A small 1000 watt AM station in Casper, Wyoming (market #286) is going to have far fewer listeners that a 1000 watt AM station in New York City (market #1.) But, the biggest station in Casper could very well have more listeners than the smallest station in New York City. So it's not always the market size that counts.

See the market sizes here: www.radio-media.com/markets

This explains why some people get "no response" from their interviews... they are on small stations (few listeners), even though they may be in bigger markets. And if you are on a small station in a small market, it's going to be even tougher. That's where some PR folks get away with "guaranteeing" you a certain number of interviews... they just take you to the tiny stations (even though they could be in big markets) that are easy to get. You'll have a good time interviewing on these small stations, but you won't make many sales. And the PR person then makes their quota.

Now, there is a good side to doing a lot of small station interviews. One is that you can do lots of practice; but the real reason is that you are building a network of small station interviews (which really becomes your personal contacts) which causes the larger stations to take notice. All radio people talk, via discussion lists, blogs, newsletters, conventions, and owner-supplied white lists. Once you get some of these folks talking about you (about how good you were on the air), other stations will listen. So now, you have interview opportunities on many other (including larger) stations. Amazing how it works.

Big station interviews in major markets (#1 through #30) are great when you get them, but if you are new at interviewing, they will detect it, and will give you a much shorter interview than a small station would. Big stations just feel more comfortable having fine-tuned people on their air. So, being new, you would actually do better on a smaller station with less listeners... they'll keep you on longer, and let you give out your contact info more often, than the big guys. And how about this... when personnel from big stations get to travel, guess what they love to do... listen to what's going on at the small stations!

The main place where you might be fooled is when you hear a huge station interview someone who is obviously a beginner. You think that if that beginner can do it, you can too. But most times, those interviews happen TO the person... the person did not MAKE the interview happen. And besides, it probably only happened on that ONE station, and no others.

You, on the other hand, are responsible for making your interviews happen. You cannot depend on some big station possibly hearing about you and asking you to interview. You need a somewhat-predictable amount of interviews that happen from week to week, and if you shoot for stations that are too large for your current capabilities, your interviews turn out to be too few and too short.

Next topic: Using Radio To Get Speaking Or Consulting Engagements