I am interested to know if anyone here on the IAIB has taken their Podcast to the air waves. how would someone do this? What do you have to know before you submit a show to a station?
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I am interested to know if anyone here on the IAIB has taken their Podcast to the air waves. how would someone do this? What do you have to know before you submit a show to a station?
All stations are different, but in my experience money rules. If you can offer to pay them to run the show, then they may find time to give you. I know the local free paper here in Indy had a show on for many years on the Alternative rock station, but it was paid for by the paper. They were allowed to sell ads in that time slot to cover their costs, but it was on them to do so and not the station.
We had a similar thing where a semi-pro football team purchased airwaves on our sports station doing the same thing.
Issues you will run up against... you have to find a station that fits your material AND even then they may say no. Also, the time slots they gave these shows weren't that desirable. Weekends either early mornings or late nights.
As for just getting the show picked up as a network show... Much harder. Not impossible, but much harder. You have to show that it is a good show with a solid background of listeners and it has to sound top notch. If it has great content but sounds like an amateur put it together, they won't even think about it. Also, you will most likely be looking towards AM as they have talk stations instead of trying to find a music station that will run the show.
The only other way I can think of is if you have something that they can run for their Public Files (a PSA show). I have a friend, and former DJ, that I help with who speaks to NFL teams as well as college and high schools about making the right decisions and drinking, drugs, etc. He has grown quite the network of stations that air his 30 minute show on weekend mornings to help satisfy their FCC requirements (adamritzshow.com).
I have worked at Clear Channel Radio for 12 years of my life and Cumulus for the past 2... in both places, money is a concern as they continue to cut down on costs by means of getting rid of live personalities for Voice tracked talent and they continue to lose the local flavor in favor of one jock covering many cities. So as I said before, not impossible, but unless you can sell them on the benefit of how they will make money with your show, you are fighting a losing battle from the start.
That being said, the broadcast I produce on Thursday nights at a bar (Hammer and Nigel, hammerandnigel.com) is now picked up for a modified weekend show at X103 (x103.com). I used to work for the station as did Nigel. Hammer worked for a competitor. We started this show once all 3 of us were out of work in radio (budget cuts) and grew this show to be popular in Indianapolis. Since then X103 came looking for us and now they do a show from 6-10 on Sat & Sun nights where they use pieces from the Thursday Broadcast and are allowed a bit more freedom to talk in between songs than the normal personalities during the week.
So again, not impossible, but in some cases it helps to have contacts. Above all... show your worth!
