You are on Page 4 of Section 9

● 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

Public Access facilities accept various types of physical media for their program content. Most accept programs on mini-DV, DVD and other formats. It is best to check in advance to assure compatibility. Most facilities are very accommodating in this regard and they will often dub a compatible copy of your media for you either at no charge or for a modest fee. If you own the media, make sure that is clearly labeled with your name (or organization name), program title and dates and time for playback and run time. (“Run time” is how long the program lasts, usually in minutes and seconds.) This is a big help to most facilities. Also, many facilities use automated playback equipment, so make sure that the run time on the label is accurate or you may find your program starting or ending prematurely. Producing Your Own Access Programming Techniques for producing your own program are beyond the scope of this section of the course. [See Section 9C] To learn about how to produce your own access programming, it is helpful to take the training offered by the access facility and to work as a volunteer on other Public Access shows to learn the ropes. Once you have been trained and certified by the Access facility, you can use their production equipment and studio facilities. It is usually beneficial to take a course in video production at a local college before you attempt to produce your own program. Many Amateurs have a background in radio and television production, so there are usually local Amateurs who are willing to help out. You can also produce Public Access programs with your video production equipment. Many access producers use their personal consumer-grade camcorders. You can edit video programs on most modern PCs using readily available software like Windows Movie Maker. Once you have a digital copy of a television program, besides running it as a video on cable, it can be uploaded to a third party site, like YouTube, on any other Web site that has video capability. Billboard Channels Most access facilities do not have enough programming to fill 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. During the hours when there are no video programs, most access facilities run character generated channels. These are called billboards and consist of mostly of static text and graphics that are run in a sequence. They can be used for announcements of club meetings, events like Field Day and other amateur radio activities of interest to the general public. Usually these announcements need to be submitted in writing in advance to the Public Access facility. Many facilities have forms for such purposes and a set of specific requirements that must be met such as the number of lines of copy and the number of text characters. Billboards are a cheap and easy way to get the word out!