• Use e-mail. Phone only if you are asked to do so.
   
• Provide challenging questions for the host, not simply "puff."
   
• Provide ample reference material online, including video (You Tube)
   
• For the interview, if not in the studio, be sure we have a good land-line phone, and be aware of any time zone difference, and provide us with a back-up number if possible.
   
• Avoid commercialism.  Ask the host to mention your website, coming workshops, etc., but you refrain from doing so.  You lose credibility if you are a huckster.
   
• Read Guest & Topic Selection 

The following interview by Bonnie Barnard, a veteran of talk interview shows and new thought consciousness, may be of assistance to you in communicating with the media.  In addition to what was said, here are some other pointers for working with VIRATO LIVE!.

INTERVIEW

Bonnie Barnard: I recently received several questions from a spiritual author, new to talk radio. I decided to ask these questions of several different individuals who have extensive radio experience, beginning first with my friend and colleague Katie Evans.

Katie is a hypnotherapist who has owned, operated, and grown a successful hypnosis weight-loss franchise for twenty-plus years.  A former talk radio host, she markets wisely and cost-effectively. Radio is one of her favorite mediums. As a spiritual woman herself, she has been interviewed over 750 times in both spiritual and secular talk radio markets. Referred to often by her Seattle colleagues as the "marketing queen," Katie was a perfect first pick for these questions.

Bonnie: How does being on talk spiritual and holistic talk radio serve your business?
Katie: Any time you can be interviewed on a radio show, it puts you in the “expert” category. If you advertise your business, you are a “salesperson.” Going from one to the other, in your customers’ eyes, is a huge leap in credibility for you.

It is important to be on a radio show that targets your market. Having said that, never, ever turn down the opportunity to be interviewed on just about any radio show when you are just starting out. It is a powerful Universal Principle that you just don’t say “No” to the Universe. If you do, the Universe will stop sending you what you had previously told It you wanted!

In fact, I still go on any radio show that I can get on—unless I’m irrevocably conflicted, which almost never happens. Another Spiritual Principle is that you put your business/product/service in the marketplace in whatever vehicle shows up for you. The reason, I’ve discovered, is because there is someone who needs to hear your message that otherwise would not.
So your question is not just how does being on talk radio serve my business, but also how can I be of service by being on those shows!
 

Bonnie: How do you prepare of your interview?
Katie: Anyone preparing to be an interviewee must put together a press kit. This should be in a folder with pockets on both sides. Into those pockets you will place your: Biography, One Sheet, List of Questions (for an interviewer to ask you), copy of your book/CD/DVD (if you have one), Newsletter (if you have one), Recent Press releases, Cover letter explaining what is in your Press Kit. There are many examples of press kits online. Study them and prepare several. Always have some on hand made up. Opportunity shows up for those who prepare for it.
Several years ago, I was preparing to be interviewed on a national health radio show. I was told to send the host four questions that I wanted to be asked, so I did. I rehearsed those four questions for weeks leading up to the interview. The first question the host asked me wasn’t on the list and I was dumfounded. It was a simple question; one I knew the answer to and I fumbled it badly. The lesson: Don’t rehearse; relax!

The best interview I ever gave was one in which I had decided—while driving to the radio station—that I would tell as many stories as I could to illustrate points. It was an hour-long interview and the phones rang so much, the host extended me for another hour. People LOVE to listen to stories. My business tripled for an entire year as a result of that 2-hour interview!
 

Bonnie: What research do you do about the show before going on air?
Katie: Know the audience and know the host. Then take it all with a grain of salt! What I’ve discovered, with few exceptions, is that telling stories and being funny is universal. However, you must be appropriate. I had a popular positive talk radio in Seattle for years. One of my guests was a PhD, a well known researcher in the Seattle area. She was talking about cancer. She was very serious throughout the entire interview. Humor would have been very inappropriate. Get a feel for your host/guest and respond accordingly.
 

Bonnie: When you had your own radio show, what did you look for in a guest?
Katie: When I had my own radio show, I asked my good friend, Bob Walsh for advice. Bob started talk radio in Boston in the ‘60’s and was an executive at KABC in Los Angeles. He told me the most important aspect to a successful show is the guest. They must be entertaining—one with a famous name is desired but not always possible. They must be able to tell good stories and the topic must be interesting and timely. Controversy can be interesting but people are getting tired of all the yelling on the radio. Spiritual radio can be a little bland so try to spice up your topic/interview. Be different but not too far out. I advocate the “corporate look/sound”. You want to appeal to corporate America: That’s where the money and the people are! Now, you can appeal to the fringe of Corporate America, but make sure you have an audience for what you have to say.
 

Bonnie: What does a successful radio show look like to you as a guest, and as a host?
Katie: As a host: A successful radio show is one that people want to be on and want to buy advertising on. In short, it’s one that works commercially. I see many, many (especially spiritual) talk show hosts that are doing it for the ego trip and all too often their ego is writing checks their wallets can’t cash! You must make money doing what you are doing. It’s the energy exchange that tells you people want what you have.

As a guest: A successful radio show is one in which listeners call in and want more information about my topic; it’s one in which the host knows something about my topic before the interview begins (I can’t tell you how many bad hosts are out there—who know nothing about their guest before I get there); it’s one that creates sales for me as a result of being on the show.