 
Most people in Maryland get their news from the radio. Half listen to radio at work. Three-quarters listen to radio in their cars while snarled in the growing gridlock produced by sprawl. Yet, environmentalists--the Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club included--have ignored radio as a medium to get our message out. This needs to change.
The Maryland Chapter has conducted an in-depth study of the radio resources available to us in the Free State. This article presents Maryland radio's how, who and where for Sierran activists.
Five paths to the air!
Advocacy groups, like the Maryland Chapter, have five general paths to get our news on the radio. First, we can try to get a radio station to send someone from the news department to cover the event or issue, much like a TV station sends a camera crew. In Maryland, this first path works only for a few radio stations that still have multi-person news departments. Most of our events will not be able to attract a radio reporter to the scene. News budgets at most stations are just too limited for this option to work,
The second path involves calling the radio station, yourself, and doing an interview over the phone OR going to the station, in person, and doing an interview in the studio. This path involves the following steps. (a) FAX the radio station a press advisory three-four days in advance of your event. The advisory should describe, in general (b) The day before the event, call the radio stations and try to arrange a phone interview time for the day of the event. Allow about 10 minutes for each radio call-in interview. You can also make an arrangement to visit the station in-person and doing an interview in their studios, c) The day of the event FAX a full press release to all radio stations you want to reacheep yourappoint-ments for call-in or walk-in interviews, (d) To be effective in these radio interviews, you must remember that you will have perhaps a maximum of 60 seconds on the air. That is the equivalent of about 90 words. So you must simplify your message to "bumper sticker" length and translate that slogan into a very brief story of what is at stake. Example: "The Sierra Club must care about the success of family farms. Every farm that disappears is a potential sprawl housing development that will further clog our roads, poison our water and foul our air. We must help family farmers not only survive but make the transition to sustainable, high-value agricultural practices."
The third path involves production of radio actualities; mini-radio news stories that you actually produce yourself and feed to radio stations over a telephone line or through delivery of an audiocassette. The Maryland Chapter is in the process of developing the capability to produce and distribute radio actualities for Maryland conservation actions, issues and events. (See page 8-9)
The fourth path is Public Service Announcements, PSAs for short. A PSA is a 30 second or 60 second message that we ask the radio station to broadcast for free. Most stations will need PSAs several weeks in advance of when you want them aired (see the chart on the next page). To be used and effective, a PSA should relate to a specific event or issue with a time deadline involved such as a meeting date or public comment date. PSAs can be distributed to radio stations as scripts, to be read by on-air announcers or as pre-produced radio spots. Again, the Maryland Chapter is developing radio production capabilities to aid in production of spots.
The fifth path is to appear on a longer, public interest radio program. These shows, usually produced and aired weekly, are a hang over from the public service requirements in FCC radio licenses, prior to de-regulation. Our research has uncovered a number of these programs which are widely listened to in specific radio markets. These interview programs are ideal formats for explaining your message, in detail,
How to be effective on an interview program!
1. Be lively and concrete. People learn through stories. Craft a story of what you want and why a listener should care about it? A good story has
(a) a problem or threat,
(b) a victim; a person or place in distress,
(c) a villian who should be held
accountable,
(d) a hero (presumably the public
getting involved and making a difference, and
(e) a way to solve the problem through an action listeners can take.
2. If you encounter a hostile host, don't panic. Stay calm and on your message. Don't let a hostile host or caller throw you. Listen for the pain behind the hostility and speak to that. Example: "I know farmers are facing hard times economically. But the Sierra Club's demand that we protect our water didn't create the situation that farmers face now. It's the large agribusiness corporations that are using monopoly practices to control the market and impoverish farmers. These corporations are the problem. And we support farmers fighting for a fair price for the food that they grow."
3. Stay on message. Repeat yourself. Repeat yourself. Repeat yourself. Pick three central message points and stick to them,
4. Take the offensive. Talk radio is a free-for-all medium. Don't wait for permission from the host to bring up a subject. Jump into the conversation with confidence,
5. Appeal to fairness. Most Americans believe in a sense of fairness--especially fairness for themselves,
6. Use clear examples to communicate numbers. For example: "The chickens raised in Maryland produce as much phosphorus in their manure, each year, as does the entire City of Los Angeles."
7. End on a positive note. Offer a positive image, repeating the solution to the problem at the end.
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terms, what is going to happen, who is going to speak and, in general, what the issue is and why it is important,
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