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● Introduction & Index ● What is PR ● Job Expectations ● Types of Media ● Building Relationships ● Media, Hams & FCC Rules ● The Basic News Release ● Interviews and Live ● Making your own show ● Easy P.R. ● Public Service Events ● Piggy-back to Events ● Pictures NOW! ● P.R. Research Aids ● Making Friends ● ARES® PIO ● Final Exam Information Next Page

What you are seeing has been well planned and rehearsed a number of times off camera. So when Dave gets ready to do the skit, there are no surprises and things go well. Preparation on your part Don’t be deceived. There is no such thing as “total spontaneity” that is consistently successful in broadcasting. Some degree of preparation is an absolute necessity. There is another side to the coin and that is being overly prepared. If you spend time preparing for an interview and are all psyched up, you may find that nothing will go as you have planned. This can cause you a lot of anxiety and catch you totally off guard. This is where actual spontaneity is the real key to success. Real spontaneity is part of your personality when you are relaxed; it is not a substitute for trying to pull something off the cuff. If you are well prepared you will naturally be more relaxed and that will allow you to be more spontaneous in an unfamiliar situation. Preparation by the interviewer But on my end, as the person conducting interviews, I purposely will not research my subject into great detail. Here is why. I don’t want to be totally ignorant of who I am talking to as that would be foolhardy. On the other hand I want to discover this person in the interview for myself. I want to vicariously lead the listener through the interview letting them discover with me all about to whom we are talking. The listener is going to be thinking and asking the same questions. Don’t be surprised if prior to the interview, the host does not investigate, ask a ton of questions or have a call screener get your history. It is not necessarily a lack of interest on their part. If I become an expert on the person I am interviewing, then I will not ask the right questions for the listener to discover along with me. It then becomes a private conversation between the guest and the host with the listener left in the dark. On the other hand, another interview host may scour you with questions to the point of making you feel like it is an interrogation. Do not dismay, this interview host is looking for anything hidden that would make good content and wants to make sure they don’t leave a stone unturned. This kind of interview host can be most intimidating. Don’t let that get under your skin. Once again, they are only attempting to dig something out that meets the criteria they need to satisfy the news desk.