The One Phrase Producers Hate to Hear That Could Mean TV Face Time for You

Sometimes you miss the things that are the most obvious because they seems way to - well, obvious.

I am guilty of doing this from time to time, but I’ve gotten a bit wiser about it when it comes to pitching producers at the perfect time.

The phrase, “slow news day/week” is not a welcome one among producers, in fact they hate to hear it because it essentially means they have a show to fill and nothing to fill it with. This is bad news for them, but great news for you if you know how to take advantage of it.

Consider slow news days a form of second chances for stories that might not have made the news before - not because the story wasn’t good but because there were other competing factors at play - but can now actually find their way on the airwaves.

This applies mainly to television news, but can be tailored to TV talk shows, radio shows and newspapers as well, just be sure to keep your eyes open for the possibility of a slow news day/week in advance and be sure to have your pitches ready.

If you watch the news carefully you’ll notice that the majority of the stories covered are about the government in some form or another be it court rulings, changes in public policy, schools under scrutiny or government officials at the state, local and national levels.

The media spends a large chunk of time covering government related topics. So what is a producer to do when schools are closed and the government becomes a ghost town?

Well, that’s where you come in, because if you know the slow days/weeks in advance you can plan your pitch to land on the producers desk at the perfect moment. Heck, you might even magically get them on the phone!

Go online and search for federal and state holidays, grab a calendar to track all of the national and state holidays and be sure to mark the day before and the day after as potential slow news days as well because historically government officials don’t make news leading into and coming out of a holiday. This exercise will give you more than a handful of dates on which you could get free publicity for your business.

Now before you think your story is an absolute shoe-in for the six-o-clock news, you’ll have to do some work to make sure that what you’re pitching will be of benefit to the viewers. Don’t attempt to use this media trump card as an excuse to be lazy. Your reputation is still on the line and the coverage you get is valuable no matter when you get it so be professional and provide value.

One really obvious slow news week that publicity seekers tend to overlook is the time between Christmas and New Year, it might take some juggling between your family and other holiday commitments but pitching something newsworthy that week could be a wonderful way to get your foot in the door and your face on television.