How to Write Your Radio PSA and How to Get Your PSA On the Air

SAY WHAT?

Have an event, issue, accomplishment or cause to shout from the rooftops? Don't bother. Instead, ride the waves. The radio airwaves, that is.

Create a radio PSA (Public Service Announcement). There's less climbing involved, and you'll reach more people.

Download the COAHSi (Council on the Arts & Humanities for Staten Island) guide: "How to Write Your Radio PSA and How to Get Your PSA On the Air." That Assistance in Marketing guide, and other valuable content, are downloadable at StatenIslandArts.org >> Professional Development Resources. Although targeted to Staten Island artists, these resources are universally applicable.

WHAT ELSE?

COAHSi's guide is excellent, but I'll add these caveats:

• Airtime for non-profit PSAs is not always free; some radio stations and producers charge fees to air PSAs, although non-profits may qualify for discounts.


• PSAs are only means of getting broadcasat exposure. In fact, radio profiles, on-air interviews, infomercials, and regular, sponsored "tips" (such as those USPS sponsors on the Lisa Tolliver Show) garner more airtime than PSAs and may include interactions with listeners.

Want airtime on my radio shows? :

• First, visit - LisaTolliver.com to review the programming information and audience demographics.


• Then - Contact me:

Email - ltolliver AT 360meridian DOT com,

Telephone or fax - (01) 309 279 7528,

Or Send Mail to - 360 MERIDIAN, LLC, 648 Central Park Avenue, Scarsdale, NY 10583-2512 1 Wolfs Lane, Box 655, Pelham, NY 10803-9998 USA.

• Although I cannot guarantee airtime to everyone who requests it, I will review all pitches.

NOW WHAT?

If you like what you see at COHASi's website, StatenIslandArts.org, why not submit a contribution? COHASi (promounced "ko-see," like "go see" with a "k") is a non-profit organization with the mission "to develop, foster and promote the arts, cultural and humanities activities on Staten Island."

Similarly, if you like my work on air, online or on demand, why not support my creative, educational and cultural productions? They are made possible, in part, by support from The Field (dba Performance Zone: a non-profit arts service organization; they grow art!), USPS (they deliver!) and 360 MERIDIAN (they’re all around world class!).

IMPORTANT NOTES: Since I am a sponsored artist, contributions, donations and other support addressed to “The Field in care of Lisa Tolliver” are tax deductible. Sponsorship dollars qualify for matching funds, too, which can double, even triple, your money! Now THAT's worth shouting from the rooftops airwaves.

[See mini-podcast: "Give me a hand (or two)."]###

ON AIR (Wed., June 27, '07): Kitchen For Hire co-owner, Priscilla Maddox, and I have cooked up a sizzling 'Lisa Tolliver Show'

BARE-NAKED TRUTH IN ADVERTISING: Green Amazon.com text links = shameless commerce.

SOME LIKE IT HOT: Tomorrow I'll be hosting two shows back-to-back on New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM. From 11:30 AM until noon, Eastern Time, movers and shakers, Dario Vaccaro and Patricia Burgess, will join me on SCORE Radio to discuss the business of dance.

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE FIRE: From high noon until 12:30 PM (lunchtime!), I will host the Lisa Tolliver Show. In honor of the occasion, Kitchen For Hire co-owner, Priscilla Maddox, and I have cooked up a sizzling menu.

In course one, we'll discuss her business, which you may have read about in "Can’t Stand the Heat? Then Rent the Kitchen" [New York Times] or elsewhere. In course two, we'll share tips for healthy cooking, laced with delectable, scrump-tuous (scrumptious-sumptuous) summer recipes.

SUGGESTION: The show should be meaty; you may want to take notes. Bon appetit!

THANK YOU, SPONSORS. The Lisa Tolliver Show is made possible, in part, through the sponsorship of The Field (they grow artists!), and with funding provided by 360 MERIDIAN (they're all around world class!), and USPS (they deliver!).

SUPPORT THE SHOW & PATRONIZE THE ARTS: Contributions are tax-deductible. And you can double, even triple your money! Learn more, contribute here.###

ON AIR: I was silenced by laryngitis, so guests Tanya Calamoneri and Patricia Burgess of The Field interviewed each other

As I wrote in "ON TV: One monkey(wrench) don't stop no show - exhibit A is Jackie Warner," if you've really got the goods, you don't always have to flash them. Jackie - sans samples - muscled her way, verbally and conceptually, through what should have been a show-and-tell for her new clothing line.

In contrast, I was everything but verbal during yesterday's Lisa Tolliver Show on New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM and www.wvox.com. Silenced by laryngitis, I was a talk show host who couldn't talk. Nevertheless, I had the goods: one solid set of talking points and two great guests: Tanya Calamoneri and Patricia Burgess of The Field. Combining those critical ingredients made for a darned good show (if I say so myself).

The Lisa Tolliver Show listener who sent the following email message agreed. His subject line read: "Good Show!"

Hey Lisa. At least you had one chatterbox there. I could hear you but it was kinda painful to listen to. A good show all in all.

I appreciated the feedback. As painful as it might have been to hear the few lines I croaked out, it was more painful to speak. Talking was, for me yesterday, a classic case of "this is going to hurt me more than it hurts you."

About yesterday's featured guests and non-profit organization:

Tanya Calamoneri is a teacher, performer and choreographer. She is also the Co-Director and Manager, Sponsored Artist Program at The Field. Her bio at TheField.org shares:

Tanya Calamoneri came to New York after nearly a decade of working in the San Francisco Bay Area arts scene as an arts administrator and performer. Among her roles, she was Executive Director of Dancers’ Group, a Co-Director at 848 Community Space and Temescal Arts Center, Founding Faculty Member of the Experimental Performance Institute at New College, and a company member of InkBoat, a Butoh performance company, and Kim Epifano’s Epiphany Productions. In New York, she has helped found Studio 111, and is a member of The Fifth Floor, so.go.no. and CavEnsemble performance companies.

Patricia Burgess is a composer, saxophonist and multimedia artist. She is also Creative Director, Watermoon Arts, as well as Manager, Membership at The Field. (I first met her in March, when I attended Patricia's orientation for Sponsored Artists at The Field). Her short bio at Watermoon Arts.com shares:

Patricia Burgess is a composer, producer and musician. Her works include the opera, The Dream of the Four Directions, produced off-Broadway, and music for theater classics including Hamlet, Trojan Women, and The Seagull. Collaborations with theater writer and director Ariane Smith include an original score for Lysistrata-The Human Cartoon which played in New York for nine months and The Decameron, which ran on Theater Row for Toontheatre Co. She also scored The Venus Cycle, produced by the Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Burgess studied classical composition with Dominick Argento, jazz performance with Ruben Haugen and Joe Viola, world music with Jerry Granelli, and computer music with Charles Dodge and Brad Garton; she also worked with the Art Ensemble of Chicago in the study of new music. She served as Resident Composer for the Independent Theater Company of New York.

The Field is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is:

to serve independent performing artists on a completely non-exclusive basis. This means that everything we do is open to artists from all aesthetic viewpoints, cultural backgrounds, and levels of development. Our priority is to create a climate where risk-taking and originality are championed, and where the broadest range of voices are included. Field programs are affordable, accessible, and rigorous. To support independent performing artists, The Field's programs are directed toward the creation of new work and its dissemination.

In terms of creation, The Field: assists artists in making clear, cogent work through peer-oriented feedback groups;

• produces performance festivals focused on the exhibition of new work;
• sends artists on retreats at arts colonies such as White Oak (FL) and Earthdance (MA) to create new material and developnew collaborations;
• provides free rehearsal and performance space grants in the FAR Space, our new Chelsea gallery district studio.

Tanya and Patricia described the programs and resources offered by The Field, the benefits enjoyed by the organization's 600 or so members, the Field Network, and other organizations with which The Field has strategic alliances, e.g., Freelancer's Union, Fractured Atlas and Materials for the Arts.

According to my guests, these are some artist must-haves:

• a calendar to keep track of funding opportunties and residencies,
• a clear mission statement, artist's statement and boilerplate for use with proposals and promotional materials,
• and resources such as those listed here.

And now, some messages from our sponsors:

The May 9, 2007 Lisa Tolliver Show was made possible, in part, through the sponsorship of The Field, and with funding provided by 360 MERIDIAN (they're all around world class!), Dee Hargrove (she's the best!), and USPS (they deliver!).

The USPS messages shared in today's show addressed the USPS Help Stamp Out Hunger campaign, and Click 'N Ship options for Mother's Day.

It's that time again!

Yep, on April 11...

• The Lisa Tolliver Show airs at noon, ET on New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM and www.wvox.com,
  
• We're 11 days into National Poetry Month (access my National Poetry Month-related posts and show roundups), and
  
• We're 10 days into the 2007 baseball season (access my baseball-related posts and show roundups), and
  
• Most of us have survived 2007''s two biggest days of foolishness: April Fool's Day (April 1st) and the "Imus in the Morning" Fools' Day (April 4), which like scene from Groundhog Day or the Energizer bunny, seems to keep going and going. Regarding the latter, the question is: what will be the fates of the "wrinkled-up old buzzard" of broadcasting, Don "I-man" Imus, and his "bald-headed stooge," producer-sidekick Bernard McGuirk?
  

POST-SHOW ROUNDUP: Today's Lisa Tolliver Show guest was composer Patricia Burgess (who "daylights" with The Field), and accompanied me to PodCampNYC. Also scheduled - but unable to join us - was Bruce from Long Island, who founded Podcaster Who's Who and the Long Island Podcast Network. Today's "hearty" emergency preparedness & safety tip addresses cardiac health.

A MESSAGE ON BEHALF OF OUR SPONSOR: The 23rd Honoree in the United States Postal Service “Literary Arts” series is poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. For baseball and history lovers, the USPS Commemorative Stamps Program also offers a Baseball Sluggers series, which features Roy ("Campy") Campanella, "Hammerin' " Hank Greenberg, switch-hitter Mickey Mantle, and high-kicker Mel Ott.

NEXT SHOW(S) HEADS-UP: Join me again on April 25 via New York Radio WVOX 1460 AM, www.wvox.com or the call-in line at (01) 914.636.0110. From 11:30-noon, I'll be hosting SCORE Radio: Counselors to America's Small Business (here's my SCORE profile) and from high noon-12:30, I'll be hosting the Lisa Tolliver Show.

IN THE INTERIM: if you're listening, I'm listening. Talk with me!