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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

Profiles put the “face” on the human side of amateur radio. There are over 600,000 licensed amateur radio operators in the United States - you have plenty of raw material with which you can work right in your back yard. Spend some time with a prospective candidate and get their permission to do a profile on him or her. Then write a sample release about the person and send it to the media with an invitation to contact you for an interview. Sometimes “sidebars” are easy stories to “sell” to editors and media. For example, the major story may be an event, but the sidebar would be the profile of the Ham as a key contributor. Sidebars also lend themselves to groups as well as individuals. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR With the decline of newspapers being distributed in a traditional paper format, the classic “Letters To The Editor” are still powerful, but often end up being posted on the website of a media outlet rather than in print. Still, remember the objective: to alert and educate the public about amateur radio. From a proactive perspective, “Letters to The Editor” can appear “self-serving” to an editor. They can seem suspect to an editor because they often contain a viewpoint of promoting a group or a cause unrelated to an event. Please see the next section of this chapter on “Reactive P.R.” about more meaningful impact from “Letters To The Editor”. Nevertheless, a proactive “Letter To The Editor” can be persuasive to the community at large. Examples where this approach might be helpful is when legislation affecting amateur radio is pending, such as an antenna bill or ordinance, or funding for a public service center which would contain an amateur radio station. Public support for amateur radio could be enhanced with a timely “Letter To The Editor”. Remember, proactive “Easy P.R” is much more impactful and beneficial for amateur radio because the majority of the story will be about amateur radio and its contributions. However, a PIO cannot always “manufacture” a perfect P.R. opportunity. So the other type of “Easy P.R.” is reactive P.R. REACTIVE P.R. Stuff happens. In the course of day-to-day activity, an unplanned event, such as a disaster, can hit an area. In such cases, a byproduct of the story may be that amateur radio was part of the response or solution. The alert PIO will take advantage of these opportunities. Part of the training of this course is for you, the PIO, to be observant for all opportunities in which amateur radio can be highlighted.