Don’t Fall Between the Lines: Knowing Where Your Story Lives

Blanket broadcast PR coverage is what everyone wants, right? So, it would make sense that your story should try and appeal to as many programmes across the board? Well, here’s why I would suggest taking a slightly different approach…

Trying to appeal to too many shows can often result in a diluted story that in fact appeals to no-one and your great content falls between the gaps of the great media abyss. Here are some of my general rules of thumb when I’m approaching broadcast producers with a story:

• Breakfast – Early breakfast usually houses the finance shows and the rest of the morning is news and more hard-hitting interviews.
• Mid-Morning – Consumer and expert guests are mostly found here and this is where the majority of “PR” content usually falls.
• Afternoon – Past 12pm is where you’ll see more showbiz content lie.
• Weekend – Here is where things get a bit messy as it varies massively from station but it’s a good bet there will be some religious, light chit-chat and specialist music programming, so definitely check the stations schedule as these shows are often forgotten about!

As with anything, this isn’t a hard and fast rule and there are always exceptions. Recently, I’ve been seeing more content that would typically sit on mid-morning shows also fall into afternoon slots, as the BBC in particular have re-jigged their broadcast schedules with COVID-19 causing programmes to have to be more flexible than they once were.

With that being said; have a focused plan of attack with your story but don’t be surprised if occasionally another show is interested, so make sure your guest has availability throughout the day and even better, throughout the week!

onbroadcast

Fraser McIntosh
Account Manager