5 Penn Plaza
New York, NY 10001
212/714-7800
http://www.cnnfn.com
Every weekday from 3 to 5 pm ET, a potential audience of 15 million investors and Wall Street insiders tunes in to CNNfn's "Street Sweep" for the latest market news and
analysis. With live coverage of final trading from the New York Stock Exchange and post market analysis, the program is a dream placement for analysts, fund managers and other
market authorities.
Content/Contacts
"Street Sweep" covers the market intensively, with live coverage of the final hour of trading, the market closing and a "post-game wrap-up." The program features financial
experts who offer perspective and predictions on the day's trading and future market activity. Wall Street gurus often join as "guest hosts." While Executive Producer Mike Cahill
admits the program occasionally gets "a little feature-y" between 4:30 and 5:00, it is essentially a news-driven production.
Use Cahill as a gatekeeper to other journalists and producers. He prefers to receive pitches via email. He is amenable to follow-up calls but warns that he's often "working on
eight 'somethings' at a time" and that a phone call from a fast talker pitching him a story may fall through the cracks.
Contact: Mike Cahill, Executive Producer, [email protected], 212/ 714-6914
Pitch Tips
"It's a cliché, but it's true," Cahill says. "Don't bury the lead." Cahill and his staff want email pitches with the news up front. "Get to the point in the first graph - why
do you think I would think this guy is important enough for me to put on the air?"
When pitching an expert source, establish credibility up front. With the show airing live at 3 pm, "we don't have a lot of time to fool around," Cahill warns. If your expert
has clips or credentials that will absolutely establish his reliability, email them to Cahill immediately.
The show looks chiefly for market experts, not corporate management. "We get pitched the CEOs of small companies. Would we be interested? Maybe -- on a really slow news
day," Cahill says.
Comments
Pitches that work best are the ones directly related to the news of the day, according to Cahill. Also, the program focuses heavily on widely held stocks. "If you represent a
high tech fund manager who can talk about Microsoft, we're more interested in that than in a small cap stock that goes down $8," he says. Best time to contact or e-mail Cahill is
by 11 am the day of the show or late afternoon the day preceding an event.
The transition from Cannon to CNN Money, set to be completed this fall, will be a new avenue of opportunity for PR folks. The network and its programming will focus more
heavily on personal finance, creating a call for new experts and stories.
In the Pipeline
Because "Street Sweep" is primarily driven by the market news of the day, most stories aren't planned out. On occasion, the producers will plan a feature three to five days
out so that they can bring in better video elements. "It's nice to dress it up," Cahill says. He cites the example of an interview with a TIME magazine writer who had been
covering the resurrection of older brands. The producers set up his appearance four to five days ahead of time.
In general, follow the markets and pitch experts who can comment directly on the big news or bring another angle to a story. "When we cover the Ford/Firestone controversy, a
business ethicist could do an interview on the pros and cons" of the situation, Cahill suggests.