Archive for the ‘Straight Pitches’ Category

Covering community news in the booming suburbs of a major metropolitan area like Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., offers on of the more hectic and challenging beats in the media business. Bob Grawey of The Star News not only has that assignment for the northwest metropolitan Twin Cities area, but has taken on the challenge as a second career. Grawey moved into journalism after years working in the manufacturing and warehouse industry.

As the community news beat can include its fair share of city council meetings and the minutiae of covering governments and bureaucracies, Grawey typically looks for the human element in stories.

Graweys work can be found on The Star News website at www.erstarnews.com.
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Popularity: 15% [?]

The pharmaceutical industry reported sales of over $600 million in 2006. With that type of commerce, the resulting proliferation of and competition within media covering the industry can be staggering.

This edition of The Straight Pitch turns to John Schultz, Pharmacy Editor for Chain Drug Review, a bi-weekly trade publication focusing exclusively on the chain drug store industry. Schults covers issues relevant to chain drug stores and pharmacies, particularly focusing on the retail angle of industry news.

Chain Drug Review can be found online at www.chaindrugreview.com.

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Popularity: 29% [?]

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Bloggers in many ways are the new media and The Straight Pitch turns the spotlight on a rather accomplished one with this edition. Michael Berman is a blogger, columnist and freelance writer who can be found writing about technology and gadgets for Scripps News and his own site, JOCGEEK.com.

Berman has written a technology column for 20 years, 15 of them for the Scripps Howard News Service. HE writes about a wide range of technology toys and gadgets and tracks trends in the tech industry.

Berman’s website can be found online at JOCGEEK.com. The Scripps Howard website is http://www.scrippsnews.com. Berman’s Tech Talk is at http://www.scrippsnews.com/techtalk.
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Popularity: 45% [?]

Engaging consumers is often best done through electronic media. Today’s Straight Pitch turns to radio and television programming specific to the home improvement industry and HomeFront, a multi-media program development company featuring a two-hour radio program, 90-second radio features and 90-second television segments designed to air in local newscasts. Nancy Zeman is a producer, Website editor and media relations coordinator for the company.

The company’s website bills the 10-year-old organization as one of the most dynamic and fastest-growing sources for home improvement and home maintenance advice in the country, The Savannah, Ga.-based programs are hosted by builder and contractor Don Zeman, who founded HomeFront.

HomeFront can be found online at www.homefront.com. The website includes audio and video archives of its programming.
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Popularity: 21% [?]

Trade publications, large and small, often include journalists with varying roles. This edition of The Straight Pitch features Heidi Beich who serves as a features and promotional articles coordinator for On Premise magazine as just one of her many roles as marketing manager for Slack Attack Communications. On Premise is the official publication of the Tavern League of Wisconsin. Slack Attack Communications is a trade magazine publishing house which produces a variety of trade magazines including the bar and tavern, electricity, medical and construction industries.

Beich’s responsibilities are a testament to the notion that media members come with a wide range of time commitments, making efficiency in pitching paramount. She handles advertising accounts, billing collection and proofreading/editorial responsibilities in addition to her features and promotional subject matter coordination.

Slack Attack Communications is online at www.slackattack.com. On Premise magazine can be found at www.slackattack.com/on-premise.htm. And it is there you can find perhaps the coolest online publication presentation we’ve ever seen. The entire magazine can be browsed in the site’s flash presentation by clicking on the cover and subsequent pages. The animation flips the page as if you’re actually reading the magazine. Kudos for the bell/whistle!
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Popularity: 16% [?]

Few media assignment and editorial positions are as demanding as that of a daily newspaper sports editor, particularly one in a hotbed for college sports with competing institutions continually tugging on one’s shirttails. This Straight Pitch focuses on Tom Arenberg, sports editor of The Birmingham News, Alabama’s largest newspaper.

Arenberg continually finds himself in the hot seat of a college sports hotbed, dealing with coverage demands for the University of Alabama, Auburn University and UAB, all major NCAA Division I athletic programs. Add to that Samford University, Birmingham-Southern College and Miles College, all located within his city’s limits, and any number of other college, professional and prep teams throughout his coverage area and you can see why we would consider his position an often unenviable one.

And, in an effort of disclosure, I served as a former sports information professional at both UAB and Birmingham-Southern College and pitched Mr. Arenberg stories over a span of five years. He was always what I consider to be the consummate professional, firm but fair.

The Birmingham News’s sports coverage can be found on-line at www.al.com/sports/birminghamnews/. Several of his writers and area sports personalities blog there as well. (Logo from www.al.com.)
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Popularity: 27% [?]

The Internet offers a virtual cornucopia of media outlets for public relations professionals and their pitches. From webzines to blogs, podcasts and WebTV shows, the opportunities for placement and pitching abound.

Today’s Straight Pitch turns to a global media organization that produces streaming radio and video programming including news and topical talk shows, webinars and pay-per-view presentations. The organization is VoiceAmerica/Modavox. Its executive producer is Stephan Jacob.

Jacob’s company offers a unique branding and marketing opportunity by opening the talk radio waves to anyone with an area of expertise, a roster of ideas for show content and the desire. It can be found online at www.voiceamerica.com. (more…)

Popularity: 15% [?]

Weekly newspapers carry a special place in the vast array of media outets public relations professionals contact on behalf of their clients and organizations. While the many weekly publications have smaller audiences than daily operations, their readership is loyal and more apt to be influenced by its content.

This edition of The Straight Pitch turns to Woodbury, Minn., and Woodbury Bulletin online editor and reporter Wendy Reuer. The Bulletin is the local paper of record for a fast-growing midwestern suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul. It is located just east of St. Paul, approximately five miles from the Minnesota-Wisconsin border.

The Bulletin can be found online at www.woodburybulletin.com. (more…)

Popularity: 100% [?]

Public relations professionals often turn to niche publications to reach targeted audiences. Niche publications also often turn to public relations professionals to assist in content generation for those audiences.

Today’s Straight Pitch turns to one such publication, Homeschooling Today magazine and its editor-in-chief Jim Bob Howard. Homeschooling Today is a bi-monthly publication targeted at Christian parents homeschooling children.

The publication operates out of Abingdon, Va. It can be found online at www.homeschooltoday.com. (more…)

Popularity: 14% [?]

Few journalists field as many public relations pitches in a week as feature writers at daily newspapers. Few receive as creative or unique pitches as feature writers specializing on the entertainment and event beat.

This edition of The Straight Pitch turns to Christa Ritchie, features writer and one of the entertainment faces of The Courier-Journal, the largest daily paper in Kentucky. Ritchie has done everything from compiling the weekend events calendar to hosting a 60-second webcast preview weekend events on the paper’s website.

The Courier-Journal, a Gannett property since 1987, covers the Louisville and Southern Indiana market and can be found online at www.courier-journal.com. The paper traces its history back to 1867.

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Popularity: 19% [?]

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