Working with Radio
Professor's Study Shows 20% Of Releases Are Never Opened
If you've ever wondered how radio stations make decisions about whether they use the press releases you send them, a new study by Joseph E. Burns, assistant professor of communications and theatre arts at Susquehanna Univesity in Selinsgrove, Pa., shows that 20 percent of releases sent to stations are thrown away without being opened. Burns says often radio journalists base whether they open an envelope containing company news on whether the source has been reliable in the past and whether it has established a relationship with the station. (The survey was based on a four-week case study of one anonymous radio station.)
Burns' study, which will appear in the Spring 1998 issue of "The New Jersey Journal of Communications" indicates that only 19 percent of public service announcements and releases are used. And the rest are opened, but never used. (Dick Jones Communications, 814/867-1963)
Cyber PR
Even the Least-Net Savvy Journalists Will Jump on the Bandwagon
There's been a perception by some that if journalists aren't entrenched in technology industries or wise to the ways of the Web, that they may never embrace the Net.
But a study by Thompson Becker International, a PR and investor relations boutique in Foxboro, Mass., indicates otherwise.
Even though 80 percent of 100 journalists report they use the Internet regularly, 86 percent of those not using it habitually plan on doing so in the future. (Thompson Becker, 508/698-0448)
In the Era of Deregulation:
Familiarity With a Market Counts for Alot
While solid reputation in an industry might bring customers closer to trusting your products or services, familiarity weighs in considerably when customers are making product and service choices, according to CDB Research & Consulting, Inc., New York.
In a recent survey, the company probed what kind of business opportunities will be available in the era of a deregulated utility industry: about 33 perent of 400 people interviewed said they would be "comfortable" buying home security services from electric companies; however, only 21-22 percent would buy telephone and cable services from the same conpany. (CDB, 212/367-6858)