I want to call her...but I don't know how...to use a phone

September 24, 2007 3:03 PM

About a month ago, I began producing a daily one-hour radio show on environmentalism, sustainable living, and the common good. Putting the show every day is a challenge for a variety of reasons, but one of the hardest parts has been trying to find news to report and the experts to make these reports possible. Please help me!

I am looking to join mailing lists and also liaise with academics/advocates/activists/industry experts and so on about important environmental and sustainable living issues. If you know of groups I NEED to know about, or ways to access experts, I would appreciate your feedback.

posted by parmanparman to media & arts (19 comments total)

One hour every day sounds like a lot. If you're struggling to find material, would it be better to scale back instead of finding padding? Focus on quality instead of quantity.
posted by afx237vi at 3:07 PM on September 24, 2007

One hour every day sounds like a lot. If you're struggling to find material, would it be better to scale back instead of finding padding? Focus on quality instead of quantity.

We cannot scale back. In fact, we soon will go to two hours each day. This is why your content provider ideas are so important.
posted by parmanparman at 3:10 PM on September 24, 2007

Talk about laptop bags or some shit. Seriously, you need environmental stuff to talk about, that dude wants to promote his environmental whatever. You were made for each other.
posted by ND¢ at 3:13 PM on September 24, 2007

google has some nifty tools that can boost your search productivity, particularly a google account. set yourself up with a google reader (free) and subscribe to every relevant rss feed (. also create google alerts (receive by email) of discussions and articles relevant to your area of interest.

this way the information arrives to you rather than you having to go out and look for it.

also look at google trends and zeitgeist.

cheers
posted by lapsang at 3:14 PM on September 24, 2007

Well it just so happens that a friend of mine (with others that I don't know) has just set up this company. If you want a personal contact then just email me and I'll put you in touch.
posted by ob at 3:22 PM on September 24, 2007

Bouphonia's Friday Hope Blogging is a consistently good source of interesting environmental news that doesn't make my usual media radar.
posted by mediareport at 3:29 PM on September 24, 2007

These may all be obvious, but just in case they're not:
Grist - with all its sub-lists, columns, etc. - is a good source of info.
Environmental News Network.
If you do themed broadcasts (sustainable farming, animal rights, etc.) then look for groups and websites that focus on those issues.
posted by bassjump at 3:49 PM on September 24, 2007

First, you need to make clear about the audience for the show. In my hometown, there's a radio station that essentially is heard by cows. Are you in a small city or is it the backwoods? Do you podcast? Whatever. If this is a small project, you should scale back your aims and shoot for coverage plus commentary, provided by yourself.
I have a few ideas, but I'll start by suggesting that you get on lefty environmental blogs. ID the writers mentioned. Go to progressive publishers (South End Press, the New Press, etc) and see who has books coming out (or going to paperback). Send them polite letters explaining that you want to interview author X, be polite to the publicist, and ask for a press kit. Do a good interview. Let the authors speak, engage with them, and send a thank you email to the publicist. If you do good, they'll add you to the list.
There are always people who're pushing a book or who have just written an article who will be willing to talk on the air, provided that you are a legitimate station.
If you're moving up to two hours, hopefully you have the budget for a second person. You need a booker/producer who can hustle a steady list of guests.

Can you provide a little more information about the size of the station and audience and your budget (i.e., can you hire a booker)?
posted by history is a weapon at 3:59 PM on September 24, 2007

it might help you to go cover local enviro news, and pull back to a broader context from there. there are always heated debates going on over isolated local issues that never get picked up in the mainstream, but have global significance.

in canada, the tar sands: athabasca river pollution and aboriginal cancer rates; the misappropriation of natural gas for bitumen processing; the geopolitical implications of a huge oil source in the US' nearest neigbour; the destruction of the boreal forest ecosystem... there are a huge number of crises that will arise from the tarsands development that are ignored, even within canada but are of global import. and these types of things are happening all over the world, all the time.

also, i second the recommendation to get involved in the market for "green" living products. i have no doubts about the cynisim of many companies that may be selling snake oil to enviro-meme bandwagoners, but you'll be able to separate the wheat from the chaff and forge relationships with small businesses that could use the publicity and provide you with connections and inside dope that you wouldn't otherwise have access to.

also, ever heard of the rocky mountain institute?
posted by klanawa at 4:03 PM on September 24, 2007

Profnet exists to connect reporters with expert sources. You might find some good subject specialists in there.
posted by croutonsupafreak at 4:06 PM on September 24, 2007

Environmental News Network
posted by Roach at 4:18 PM on September 24, 2007

Call up environmental experts and find out from them which environmental experts would be interesting to hear on the radio. Where I am in San Francisco, there are resources like the Bay Area Progressive Directory and the Berkeley Ecology Center that make it easy to find candidates; similar resources will exist in other localities to varying degrees.

Also check universities, colleges, and community colleges for instructors in likely programs -- if they get hired to teach, they're somewhat more likely than average to sound interesting on the radio. (Definitely check out community colleges -- around here, that's where the exciting people with cutting-edge experience are moonlighting.)

I guess explicit self-links are uncool even if others where to find your show . . . but would you mind making it obvious enough how I might Google for it?
posted by gum at 4:19 PM on September 24, 2007

If you're interested in balanced content, contact the public affairs offices of all major energy companies, public utilities, pipeline operators, etc. The major oil companies alone put hundreds of millions of dollars into environmental programs each year, that are often monitored by government or industry watch organizations, and are happy to provide tons of information, interview candidates, and press materials, usually of pretty high quality, that describe their efforts.
posted by paulsc at 4:39 PM on September 24, 2007

Parmanparman, food is your friend. Issues in the food supply have far-reaching environmental implications, from the threat to biodiversity brought about by the consideration of genetic data in seeds as intellectual property to the complications of fossil fuel-powered refrigerated food transport to the resource costs of irrigating or hothousing in inhospitable climates to fair global access to food resources to the impact of chemical crop treatments to the potential collapse of finfish stock in the oceans. My group's been interviewed on our local environmental show and on a public-affairs show about food issues related to environmental health, and it went quite well - there are a lot of subtopics. Some links to track:

Slow Food USA, especially their attention to the Ark of Taste and the Farm Bill, and the seven or eight links from this comment.
posted by Miko at 5:32 PM on September 24, 2007

World Environment News from Planet Ark. National Geographic. Planetizen. High Country News. (More at home). All the nonprofits (NRDC, Sierra Club...) Book publishers like Island Press. Maybe you can get on the mailing lists for local university environmental science departments, hear about experts giving talks on up-and-coming issues.
posted by salvia at 6:48 PM on September 24, 2007

I'm assuming you've already found Focus The Nation.
posted by lilithim at 7:54 PM on September 24, 2007

WorldChanging has a big-ass encyclopedic book of pointers to enviro/public-good stories, and a web site with more blogs and columns than you can shake a stick at. It's great source material, and they have discussion groups and action groups where you might be able to hook up with experts or researchers.
posted by mbrubeck at 8:15 PM on September 24, 2007

I guess explicit self-links are uncool even if others where to find your show . . . but would you mind making it obvious enough how I might Google for it?

The show is called Green Seed Radio, it's about environmental news and views; sustainable lifestyles (all areas, really); and common cause. We are currently testing the show in San Francisco, CA to see what works and what does not and whether we can make it profitable. It is aimed at the white middle/upper class green-conscious consumer who listens to talk radio. Once we can show growth and potential for growth on air and online, the show will be syndicated. There have already been two other commercial radio shows about the environment: Eco News with Betsy Rosenberg and LIME. Green Seed Radio is four weeks old and celebrates a month on the air this Thursday.

About me: I was made executive producer on Sept. 7, two weeks after starting the job. I am the former producer of Interfaith Voices, a syndicated public radio show about religion and spirituality. Prior, I was a network radio producer for the BBC Asian Network and 5Live.
posted by parmanparman at 10:20 PM on September 24, 2007

Total self-link from me. Contact my boss, Eli. He manages to run a business that creates kickass stuff from recycled goods and materials.

And he is young, bright and fun to talk to.

And he might kick my ass for suggesting this without asking him first, but hey.
posted by YoBananaBoy at 10:18 PM on September 25, 2007