Larger stations want to see you do successful interviews with smaller stations in their format before they chance it themselves. And smaller stations like to follow what works with larger stations in their format. So here are some specifics on choosing what format to start with...

Country: The main advantage of country stations is that they are mostly small and mostly independently owned; thus an interview with a guest who is relatively unknown in their town is accomplished easier than with a large station owned by large group owners. And since there are more country stations than any other format, you could conceivably spend your whole career in just this format. Within the format, however, country varies widely as to how/if they book interviews; in general, they don't interview as much as other formats. Country stations are all commercial.

Oldies: We classify oldies at 1920's to 1980's, all styles. You'll have an easier time with 60's, 70's and 80's, not because of the music, but because of the energy level of the format. Morning drive is probably your only chance, unless they have weekend programs that are non-music. And even so, they usually only want to interview artists that they play. Oldies stations are all commercial.

Religious: The Christian, Gospel, and Ministry stations that make up the religious radio community are great, in that they do lots of interviews within the religious sector. Secular guests, however, have a much harder time. Keep in mind, however, that a lot of "religious" stations do not do full-time religious programming; they many times have totally unrelated shows late night during the week, and sometimes all of the weekends. And the religious format is one of the few that is split between commercial and non-commerical. Thus the "commercialism" content of your interview will have to be taken into consideration.

News/Talk/Sports: These stations are naturals for interviews, and the interviews don't necessarily have to be in morning drive. You have to view a news/talk/sports station as group of different shows-around-the-clock, instead of viewing it as a single station. Each host (or producer) makes up his or her own mind when it comes to booking interviews. Keep this in mind, as it takes contacting 20 or 30 people at a single station, instead of just three or four like at a music station. The big exception at news/talk stations is syndicated shows. You might know a few of the biggest syndicated names, but most of the smaller ones, who you would swear are local, are nowhere near the station. Syndicated shows are the last and most difficult that you will ever get interviewed on, because of the number of people they reach. "News" and "sports" stations are all commercial, but the "talk-only" format is split between commercial and non-commercial.

Rock/Alternative: Everyone knows the typical rock station. Morning show and late night shows are your best bet. For most of you reading this, your main focus should be to separate the "classic rock" from the "mainstream rock" and "alternative" stations. Classic rock falls into the oldies category, where it is real tough booking interviews unless you are a classic rock artist. Rock/Alternative is all commercial, as long as you are not counting college stations, which we define as "miscellaneous".