GUIDELINES TO PSA WRITING - CHRIS ALLEN - CKUA RADIO NETWORK

For any organization, providing information about a product or production is an essential part of doing business. This is particularly so for arts organizations which are often hard-pressed for funding and personnel.
Often, marketing or publicity staff are either volunteers or on short-term contract, and very often are not given enough training. In the case of the media to whom you turn to project your message, they too are usually under budget, time and space constraints.
In the case of CKUA, since our mandate is, in part, to reflect Alberta to Albertans and beyond, the task is complicated by the enormous amounts of information that must be sifted through to provide a brief sample of say, five items from across the province, on a two minute "Arts and Culture Guide" or a single five minute interview and story on "Arts Alive".
In such circumstances, the easier it is to read your message, and the more concise the information, the better chance it will have of being used.

Some ideas to keep in mind include:

Send Type-written messages . .. Don't send us hand written psa's. We don't have the time or inclination to decipher hastily scrawled information while we're trying to do our jobs.

Remember simple things like double spacing, large fonts, and short, punchy sentences and hopefully keeping the psa to less than a page long. Don't use 6 different fonts, kaleidescopic patterns or circular paper. Keep it clear and simple. You can still be creative.

On one side at the top should be a release date, and also, sometimes on the other side, a contact name and phone number (always) along with an e-mail address.

For CKUA's purposes, also include the town or city name and address, since we provide information about and broadcast to nearly 85% of the province as well as around the world on internet.

Important information should always be near the top . . . Perhaps after a brief intriguing statement or two.
e.g. "He's more than four hundred years old, and still can't make up his mind. He's Hamlet."

Titling the psa shows at a glance what's contained within.
e.g. (CENTRED) TO BE OR NOT TO BE: HAMLET DECIDES AT THE CITADEL

Then I like more info about the work or artist, and the venue, time and dates of performance. Repeat this info near the bottom of the psa to lock it in the mind.
Read the page aloud to decide whether the words make sense and if there are any that might be awkward to read like "Sisyphus suffered psychologically" (not that alliteration is bad).

Time it while reading. Is it :30, :60? The station may change it anyway but make a rough guess while reading at your speed.

Check for spelling, phone number and info mistakes. Proof the page! You don't want the media to think you don't know what you're talking about - especially regarding info. A common mistake is reading the date from the wrong month on the calendar. Another is to assume the time will be as per usual.
e.g. "The play starts at 8 pm" . . . Forgetting there's a matinee Saturday at 2 pm or that it's a children's show and starts at 7:30 so that they can get to bed early.

Don't send it too early . . . Three weeks ahead is fine for me, four is acceptable but any more than that may cause the offending object to disappear into the black hole of paper dust.
Don't send it too late . . . A week ahead is at the outer edges of respectability for my purposes since I produce some programs a week or two ahead of time. You won't get your audience if you don't get your message seen soon enough.

Excuses are rarely of any use . . . The dog ate it, the director didn't tell me the info till yesterday, the schedule wasn't confirmed till today . . . That's not our problem. Do the homework and make it timely.

Press releases are longer than psa's and contain more information about artists, material and history of performance, often along with reviews. Generally they're sent to the print media or in conjunction with psa's as background for interviews or program notation. They are not usually necessary for my purposes unless an interview is to be done, in which case, the info is vital.

A pronunciation guide for artists, place, titles and other names is essential. You and your colleagues may know that Ghoti is pronounced fish, but we don't. If you're in doubt about whether the name is obvious, do the guide anyway. It doesn't take that much more time. Also, use common sense. If "c" has a hard sound, use a "k" not a "c" to indicate it, if it's soft use "s", etc. Foreign names, if the persons are Canadian, may be pronounced differently than in the country of origin.

Look at other organization's psa's. Use their ideas to stimulate your own.

Contact the person to whom the psa is addressed (if it's an announcer, for instance) by phone to confirm that it reached them and touch base regarding info, interviews and simply to establish or maintain a relationship with them. (Not all individuals like this, but you'll discover who they are soon enough. Generally though, I think it's a good idea)

Finally . . . Send extravagant gifts!!! To bribe your way into their hearts . . .trips to Europe, BMW's and Swiss bank accounts are all acceptable forms of bribery; sacrificing your first born is not.