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IN THIS EDITION:
The "Hello..." campaign is off to a wonderful start with over 10,000 of the brochures already requested. More important is that these are requests for public presentations, not just to sit in a pile at a hamfest! You are to be commended - you "got it!" While I have no way to track the people who download the audio PSA's off the website, I know that there have been over 30 who have asked for the CD already with the specific intention of placing them in a broadcast radio station. (not bad for just two weeks!!)
One of the more interesting requests have been...
John Simmons KQ6ES, hopes to build a tower on his property and will be going before the town for the permits. He is sending the brochures to all his neighbors. (Great idea and a totally unexpected use)
On a personal note, I asked if I could drop some off in a medical office waiting room during my last visit. The doctor wanted to see them first, so I shared several copies with him. At the end of the visit he asked if I had any more. He wanted to give them to other offices in the building!
Two more parts of the campaign will happen in April.
First, Richard Lubash is completing the video PSA. Once done, we will get copies made as quickly as we can. The problem we have is that, unlike audio which has pretty well settled down into using the mp3 format, video still is a hodge-podge of sacred cows. Everyone has their favorite format. But it does appear that DV and DVD are the two forms that cover most modern situations. BetaSP is becoming a distant third in broadcasting and the blank Beta tapes are expensive! So the plan is to use blank DVD-r disks and put BOTH the DV and the DVD formats of the video on them. Those that demand BetaSP can get the DV translated easily enough. Disks are also a lot easier to mail and copy.
I have seen the drafts and roughs of the video as it has developed and am very pleased with it. I think you will be more than surprised at the quality of the piece and the modern approach it takes while still honoring the past. We will have a low resolution version (which really will not do it justice) viewable on the web. I recommend you get the free Apple Quicktime player to see it if you don't already have it on your computer.
The second critical part of the campaign in April is distribution. Having great audio and video PSAs is one thing, but they do no good on our shelves! Once they are available, I will need each and every PIO to make contacts with local radio, cable and broadcast TV stations in their area. We need to get them airtime, and this is where having motivated people scattered across the country is our biggest asset.
For myself, I will be going to both the New England regional Radio and Television News Directors Association meeting and also their national meeting in Las Vegas in April. I will be pitching our campaign as best I can to some very powerful media people. (Wish me luck!)
There will be more to come as the year unfolds, but we're off to a really good start. This is the campaign we said we wanted the ARRL to do. It will take ALL of us, but we can DO it!
Thanks to Norman Schklar, WA4ZXV, a copy of the Swiss Army Knife '06 for PIOs is now on the web. This is very handy of you are out somewhere and unexpectedly need info or a document quickly to seize a media opportunity. Thanks, Norm!!
By Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO
Helping to support the amateur radio public relations mission is a unique group of individuals. Members of the ARRL Public Relations Committee work with ARRL Media and Relations Manager Allen Pitts, W1AGP, and with many others interested in promoting our hobby, amateur radio. Some members have professional public relations experience, some are writers, others work or have worked in the television or cable industries. Several are McGan Award winners. Still others saw the need to promote the hobby and learned through on the job training. Several Committee members will be on hand at the Dayton Hamvention.® Here's a brief introduction to this year's Committee.
Sherri Brower, W4STB--Chairman, Vero Beach, FL, got her license to talk to the world. "I've never worked on a school newspaper or yearbook, never worked for a radio or TV station, never worked for an advertising or PR firm, and never even edited a club newsletter." Sherri came up through the PR ranks. "In the early 90's the OM and I began writing a column called "DX Is!" for the club newsletter and I volunteered to do the PR points for Field Day." As she got more involved she saw there was a need for a PIO for her county. She eventually became Public Information Coordinator and now serves as Section Manager in Southern Florida.
A McGan Award winner, Sherri has written for Contact!, the Swiss Army Knife CD, World Radio Magazine, Florida Skip Magazine and is now writing the bi-monthly YLRL column for the 4th call district.
Joyce Birmingham, KA2ANF, Hudson
Division Vice Director, Ridgewood, NJ, serves as the PRC liaison to the
ARRL Board of Directors. Joyce shares a passion for the hobby. She's active in
Skywarn and an avid DXer with 330 DX entities confirmed(291 on 10
meter phone) and is on the ARRL DXCC Honor Roll. She is an ARRL Awards Manager
and a Volunteer Examiner with the ARRL VE program and has participated in over 129 VE
Sessions since 1993.As President of
East Coast DX Assn,Joyce and other clubmembers helpmentor
newly licensed hams to make sure they are on the right path.
"Taking your Amateur Radio test does not make you a ham. It's only the
first steps into a wonderful lifelong experience."
Diane Ortiz, K2DO, Copiague, NY - A McGan Award winner, Diane is very involved in public service and has won many awards from the US Coast Guard Auxiliary where she is Immediate Past Flotilla Commander. She holds many qualifications including communications and Division staff officer for Public Affairs and Publications. A past PR Committee chairman, Diane was the first woman President of the Long Island Mobile Amateur Radio Club, one of the largest radio clubs in the country. She also serves as ARRL NYC/LI Section PIC. She says this job was "a real challenge during the 9-11 disaster" even though she works for NewsDay. She wrote the YL Column in QST for about 10 years. In addition she has written for World Radio, CQ,, CQ Contest, CQ VHF, 73, LI Boating World, Newsday and other publications. She had a ham radio program on cable TV called "Tech Talk" for many years in New York City and hopes to get that going again. Diane and her husband NLI Section Manager George, N2GA, run Ham Radio University.
Rich Moseson, W2VU, Bloomfield, NJ, has been a ham and a journalist since high school. Currently, he is Editor of CQ magazine and Editorial Director for CQ VHF and Popular Communications. Originally starting in broadcast news at local radio stations, he went on to work for the Associated Press and at CBS News as a writer and producer for various public affairs programs, including the multi-award-winning children's news program, "In the News." After several years at CBS, he joined CQ Communications in 1992. His first project was to develop, write, produce and direct the "Getting Started" video series, followed by coordinating CQ magazine's 50th anniversary celebrations in 1995, then starting up CQ VHF magazine in 1996 and becoming Editor of CQ in late 1999. Rich also spent two years in the 1970s working in the New York State Legislature.
Jim McDonald, KB9LEI, Muncie, IN has served on the PRC for the past five years.
He began his involvement with news as a junior in high school when he became chief photographer on the yearbook. Being in a small town, the folks at the daily newspaper saw him working ball games and other events and invited him to do some freelance work for them, which grew into a morning job (afternoon paper) , then a summer job, internships and ending up as general assignment reporter. He went to Marshall University to major in journalism, but came back for a summer internship that turned into becoming sports editor.
In the course of covering news, Jim got acquainted with the guys at the fire department and when there was an opening, took the exam and became a professional firefighter who moonlighted at his old paper as well as a local weekly.
Bob Josuweit, WA3PZO, Philadelphia, PA, has served on the PRC for 5 years. He is a McGan Award winner and former EPA PIC. Bob has served as Public Service and Emergency Communications Editor for CQ since the 2000 and CQ VHF before that. He has done freelance writing for 9-1-1 Magazine, Conformity, and Radio HRS (Croatia Amateur Radio Society). He has also written for Contact!, Military Medicine, and Popular Communications. He has spoken at various emergency communications conferences, and will be speaking at the Rochester (NY) Hamfest on June 2.
His background includes editing club newsletters, reporting for a local weekly newspaper, and serving as News Director of WHHS -FM, the oldest high school FM station in the country. While in college he interned at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Public Relations Department and WHYY-TV, Philadelphia. Bob is one of a small group of hams to receive an Olympic Medal (1980 - Lake Placid). He also is the only Section Emergency Coordinator to have a nuclear power plant accident (TMI) in their section under their watch. He currently serves on an IARU Emcomm subgroup.
Bill Morine, N2COP, Wilmington, NC spent his college yearsas a Desk Assistant and later news producer at WCVB-TV, the ABC affiliate in Boston.He later became press secretary to the Vice-Chairman of the Massachusetts House Ways & Means Committee for two years. He eventually went into financial planning with his wife.Bill is active with the Boy Scouts, having helped staff the national Scout Jamboree. He has also served as the ARRL North Carolina Public Information Coordinator since 2003.
Kevin O'Dell, N0IRW, Ardmore, OK is a Production Director for Cableone Advertising. Kevin has a long background in television news. He started in high school working with the local CBS affiliate. While in college he worked with Educational Television Services. After college he spent time with Oklahoma Educational Television Services, which is the state PBS operation. Over the years Kevin has made a lot of friends in the business and "knows what most assignment editors look at and throw away......not to mention what looks good to the general public as far as on air goes." Kevin really enjoys DX, but is not chomping at the bit to work it all. "I just enjoyit," says Kevin, "though I did work 3Y0X on 20..........cool! Speaking of cool..........that is how we have to portray amateur radio to kids in order to get them to pay attention."
Bob Weinstock, W3RQ, Takoma Park, MD has served ARRL in a number of capacities over the years, including one term as Vice Director for the New England Division in the late 1980s and several years as director of the National Traffic System Transcontinental Corps for the Eastern Area. One of Bob's contributions was his work with VITAC Corporation of Pittsburgh to create an open-caption version of ARRL's Amateur Radio Today video. Bob is a Systems Trainer with Information Technology Services and an English instructor at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC. Along with his spouse, he is very involved in the university's fundraising and development efforts
Pat Mullet, KC8RTW, Shepherd, MI, spent 23 years as a Broadcast Engineer at WDCQ-TV, the PBS outlet for Saginaw/Bay City Michigan. During his time at WDCQ, he learned quite a bit on how pr worked, so after joining the Midland Amateur Radio Club, he volunteered to help the Club's PR spokesman. He eventually became spokesman and newsletter editor. He currently serves as a PIO in Michigan.
Ever wonder what that was you were hearing on your radio? Or perhaps you would like samples of digital communications sounds to use in a presentation.
This website by Gary Hahn, KB9UKD, has a little bit of almost everything. You can sample the sound bytes off the web, or download them for insertion in presentations.