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“I keep going over a sentence. I nag it, gnaw it, pat and flatter it.”
- Janet Flanner |
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New Study by Tobin Communications Shows 80% of Radio Stations are Not Using Audio News Releases |
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| December 2003 |
Survey Highlights
- 80 percent of radio station respondents say they never or rarely use ANRs for stories that make it on-air.
- 70 percent of respondents say ANRs are not at all or rarely helpful when it comes to developing stories or news items.
- 80 percent of respondents say they sometimes or often use telephone interviews with spokespeople for stories that make it on-air.
- Only 10 percent of respondents say telephone interviews with spokespeople are not at all or rarely helpful when it comes to developing stories or news items.
- 100 percent of respondents say if they had a choice between access to a spokesperson for a telephone interview or a prepackaged ANR, they would prefer access to a spokesperson.
A survey conducted by Tobin Communications, Inc. during the summer of 2003 shows that a majority of radio stations do not use Audio News Releases despite a recent - and in many cases universal - trend in the public relations industry to rely on ANRs as a means of getting radio publicity for PR clients.
ANRs are prepackaged interviews and soundbites sent by PR vendors en masse to radio stations or made available to stations through feeds, Web sites or toll-free phone lines.
Results of the survey show that not only are most radio stations not using ANRs, their news staffs are increasingly leery of stories that come to them in this kind of homogenized format and do not provide for independent interviewing, reporting and analysis.
While the study also points to the importance radio stations place on other tools and news sources - for instance, press releases and information culled from news sources such as print publications or the Web - the purpose of this survey was to examine whether radio stations would rather have access to a spokesperson for interviews or prepackaged interviews and soundbites.
While 70 percent of respondents said they sometimes or often receive ANRs or actualities from PR vendors, an overwhelming 80 percent said they never or rarely use them for stories that make it on-air.
On the other hand, 80 percent said they sometimes or often use telephone interviews with spokespeople from organizations and corporations for their news stories and programs.
In recent years, there has been a push in the PR industry to rely on ANRs as a means of streamlining publicity costs and limiting the time commitments spokespeople have to make for media interviews. But this study underscores a significant point many PR professionals seem to be missing: If no one hears your client's message, the risks far exceed the benefits.
The findings also reveal a major gap between what kind of information and sources journalists at radio stations use to develop news stories and what those in the PR industry are actually providing radio reporters, producers and news talk-show hosts.
It is no surprise that journalists are often cautious about what they see as "spin" and they know that PR agents are seeking positive publicity when they pitch a story and offer a spokesperson for an interview. But with an ANR, the news is often buried and the journalist is forced to relinquish a certain amount of control (for example, they can't ask the questions and develop a unique story relevant for their listeners) and that sends up automatic red flags, according to most survey respondents.
Tobin Communications, Inc., a radio media tour and telephone media training company based in the Washington, D.C.-area, conducted the survey by speaking with 20 employees who make news and programming decisions at AM and FM radio stations in various regions of the country. The radio outlets polled encompass two categories: one, stations in small- to midsize markets; and two, stations in large markets.
It should be noted that Tobin Communications president, Maury Tobin, has had a long-standing policy of not offering his clients ANRs because of his belief that in a great majority of situations, they do not work.
The Bottom Line
In every case, as this study revealed, radio stations would rather be able to interview someone from an organization or company, instead of cull from an already-prepared or canned story. Though the preferences vary on how radio stations would like to be pitched, the majority of radio station journalists polled did not differ on their views about the value of ANRs.
"I've never thought that ANRs are worthwhile," said Ken Pauli, senior producer for CNN Radio. "And I've never worked for a radio organization that's used them since I began in the business in 1978."
Pauli added that at CNN Radio, a national network that produces stories for radio stations all over the country, it is a company policy that "we have to get the audio ourselves." (CNN will run ANRs as advertising, but the caveat here is that puts an ANR in the category of paid media, not earned media - the cornerstone of PR.) The survey highlights that most radio station personnel do not mind a well-honed telephone pitch, an e-mail or a faxed press release that states up-front what the news angle is and why the station or news organization should be interested. The pitch can also include information on the spokesperson, when he or she would be available for an interview, and abbreviated background information.
But send radio stations an ANR and you've probably done very little to build relationships with the media or establish a rapport with a radio reporter/host or program producer. The exception is the ANR that comes from a state institution, a high-ranking government official or is breaking news, respondents indicated. Interestingly, even a majority of the radio stations polled that have small staffs or are located in smaller markets and might appear to be better targets for prepackaged interviews (because they have limited staff to produce news items) were skeptical of ANRs.
This study underscores that it is rare that client money spent on ANR services amounts to anything more than pricey words that fall on deaf ears.
"ANRs are a waste of money. We'd rather have bullet-points on paper to look at. For instance, a one-page fax that sets out the who, what, when and why has far more value," said Jim Farley, vice president of news programming for WTOP in Washington, D.C., one of the nation's premiere news radio stations. "We don't use [ANRs] because we don't have editorial control and they are generally commercially angled, not news angled."
Other key findings include:
- 85 percent of respondents said they sometimes or often receive press releases from PR firms or agents and 65 percent said they sometimes or often use press releases in developing stories that make it on-air;
- 80 percent of respondents said they sometimes or often receive information from other radio sources and 65 percent said they sometimes or often use information from other radio sources in developing stories that make it on-air;
- 95 percent or respondents said they sometimes or often receive information from other news sources and 100 percent said they sometimes or often use information from other news sources in developing stories that make it on-air.
Radio outlets that participated in the study included:
- CNN Radio, a national network with more than 2,000 affiliates;
- KAJX-FM, Aspen, Colo.;
- KDKD-AM/FM, Clinton, Mo.;
- KFBK-AM, KGBY-FM, KHYL-FM, KSTE-AM, Sacramento;
- KFWB-AM, Los Angeles;
- KJFF-AM, KREI-AM, KTJJ-FM, St. Louis;
- KKHG-FM, KSQB-AM/FM, Sioux Falls, S.D.;
- KMTS-FM, KGLN-AM, Glenwood Springs, Colo.;
- KNUS-AM, KBJD-AM, KRKS-AM/FM, Denver;
- KXAZ-FM, KPGE-AM, Flagstaff, Ariz.;
- Metro Radio Networks, a national network with almost 2,000 affiliates in roughly 95 markets nationwide;
- WBGZ-AM, St. Louis;
- WBUT-AM, WISR-AM, WLER-FM, Pittsburgh;
- WCCI-FM, Savanna, Ill.;
- WICO-AM/FM, WQJZ-FM, WXMD-FM, WXJN-FM, Delmarva Peninsula (Delaware-Maryland-Virginia);
- WHIO-AM, WDPT-FM, WHKO-FM, WZLR-FM, Dayton, Ohio;
- WFLA-AM, WDAE-AM, WFLZ-FM, WHNZ-AM, WMTX-FM, WSSR-FM, WTBT-FM, WXTB-FM, Tampa Bay, Fla.;
- WLS-AM, WMVP-AM, WZZN-FM, WRDZ-AM, Chicago;
- WSPD-AM, WCWA-AM, WIOT-FM, WRVF-FM, WVKS-FM, Toledo, Ohio;
- WTOP-AM/FM, WGMS-FM, WWZZ-FM, WXTR-AM, Washington, D.C.
Even among the stations that use ANRs, they are rarely running them in their entirety and merely gleaning a few seconds of soundbites. In many cases, too, the radio stations are relying on ANRs only when they are feeds from local hospitals or colleges/universities, for instance, or breaking-news from government offices and local legislators, according to the study.
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