There will never be enough space on a cassette to include full details of everything but if a brief outline together with a contact telephone number (e.g. local Traveline) is given, your listeners can obtain further information themselves.
- Six questions: A last and hoary thought about cutting stories down to the interesting bits…Stories have to answer six questions – who, what, where, why, when, and how. That is all the reader needs or wants to know. When you have told them that, move on to the next story
- Copying: This operation demands the most consistent and careful routines. It is just so repetitive for the operators that a moment’s lapse of concentration, such as one undressed button or one unchecked batch of cassettes, could mean a dozen individual listeners receiving blank cassettes in their wallets.
- Equipment: There are a handful of manufacturers offering units which makes individual evaluation worthwhile when replacements are due. Properly used and maintained, all makes will give excellent results with suitable cassettes.
- Environment: When a few hundred copies are made on a chain of around 14 slaves there will be degree or two of heat generated and a lot of air sucked through the units. It follows that ventilation and as dust free a copying area as possible are essential to maintain the health of the operators and the internal cleanliness of the machines.
The dustiest TN job must be emptying out the Post Office’s mailbags which spend their life being dragged around the floors of sorting offices and on and off delivery vans. It is well worth keeping the copiers in a different room to the mailing returns or not carrying out both operations at the same time.
Mechanical ventilation over the copier bench is desirable but beware that there is no back draft when the fan is not running which could bring in the dreaded dust.
Most TNs find that copying is a standing operation and the units are best on a worktop of around 3 feet, (900mm), with other tables or trolleys adjacent for pre-preparation and subsequent checking of cassettes.
Local media: The local media can be divided into two groups – local broad- casting and the local press. Each group requires a different technique in the areas of contacting and the type of information TNs give them, but both can be used to promote the organization and its activities.
Some TNs may mistrust anything to do with the press, so let’s try to get rid of misconceptions about journalists and their work.
Journalists are not out to dig the dirt about your TN nor are they going to write a pack of lies about your group. All they will use is the information you give them, plus their own observations on what they find when they visit your studio. This means that the committee and volunteers must have a basic trust in the member who is going to act as Public Relations Officer, as it’s no good blaming them if the journalist reports something about your TN that you think is wrong. Also, while you may feel that there should have been a two page spread on the TN, don’t blame the PRO if you end up with a small story on page 4.
Local press: There are three types of newspapers which you may find in your TN’s area. These are, usually, regional morning or evening papers, weekly paid-for local newspapers, and the weekly free sheets. (You can forget the national papers, as you’ll never obtain coverage in these).
From the point of view of the PRO, regional newspapers do present a major problem in placing a story as, being a daily paper with a large area to cover, they are mainly interested in big events and do not have the space for small or less interesting items. On the other hand a local weekly paid-for paper will have space and in some cases may be crying out for material to fill it. If your PRO can develop a good relationship with the staff, then this could be very useful to your TN.
Many weekly free sheets print only local advertising, but some go in for a form of local news service and even employ journalists, who will be very interested in your organization.
Press releases: The problem now is how to plant the good news story about your TN in these publications. The answer is the traditional Press (or Media) Release. This is not the simple letter to the Editor, nor is it a note printed on any old scrap of paper, both of which can get lost in the sack full of paperwork that all newspapers receive each week.
A good Press release is one that stands out from the rest of the paperwork landing on an Editor’s desk. In both layout and design, it should attract attention. If you already have a good letterhead and logo, your TN will have gone some way towards designing a good Press Release. Print the information on colored paper which will stand out amongst all the other paper work.
Local radio: There are two types of local station in operation – the BBC and Independent Local Radio Network. Although the BBC stations may offer a better chance of getting material on air, news-wise you have the same problem as trying to get an item into a large regional newspaper, that of lack of editorial airtime and lack of interest to a large coverage area. The Press Release should be sent to the station at the same time as it is issued to the papers.
Offer local stations tapes of any interviews or interesting features which the TN has produced, but bear in mind this does depend on having good quality production equipment and editorial know-how.
Ask the station’s most popular DJ to come to your TN and do something – announce a competition winner or whatever.
