Week 3: Pitching Advice

The three sources I gathered from the web that discussed advice about pitching ideas on podcast and radio shows were:

CBC Radio Pitch Guide. (2013). CBC. Retrieved January 24, 2014, from (http://www.cbc.ca/pitch/radiopitchguide.html)

One key piece of information I gathered from this source was to begin the pitch with the most exciting content and if you are unsure what that might be, tell a friend or peer and pay attention to what excited them. What excites them about your topic will excite the audience as well.

 

BBC Academy. (2014). BBC. Retrieved January 24, 2014, from (http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20130702112135815)

Lisa Ausden, executive producer in BBC Vision raised a good point in the quote I retrieved from this source. Appealing to the audience through some format of participation whether it is a joke to get them to laugh or even an activity can relax what can sometimes be a tense atmosphere.

 

This American Life: Submissions. (2014). This American Life. Retrieved January 24, 2014, from (http://www.thisamericanlife.org/about/submissions)

This source provided a reminder to connect the topic to something universal because it answers the “so what” question that the audience will have. The editor will more likely pay attention to content that can make a broader connection because it shows the clarity and depth of the topic.

 

I know that each of these sources are reliable because the CBC is a notable broadcasting corporation in Canada for both television and radio and BBC is also a well-known British broadcasting corporation. This American Life is a radio show broadcast and also develops documentary films in the United States, Canada and Australia. The ideas on these website pages were also presented in a professional and organized manner; they included detailed information on the contributors to the information and date of revisions. Copyright symbols and the content of the website links themselves also signaled that these websites were reliable.

Based on the advice I have gathered, the information I need to have prepared for my podcast pitch next week is exciting details that will interest my podcast episode, thought provoking and entertaining material for audience participation and the ability to connect my topic to a bigger issue or idea. In relations to my specific topic: “i before e except after c”, I will need to include some of the interesting content that I have already researched about this spelling rule and connect its importance of use to the bigger issue of improving our writing skills.