Media Insight: Wireless Flash News Service

P.O. Box 639111

San Diego, CA 92163-9111

http://www.flashnews.com

While newswires like AP and Reuters are covering Osama Bin Laden, Wireless Flash News is covering the guy who created Osama toilet paper. The newswire offers more than 800
newspapers, magazines, radio and television programs a look at offbeat stories, pop culture items and other quirky, but notable, news. "We call ourselves the pop culture wire,"
says Senior Associate Editor David Moye. The wire service is a favorite on the late night TV circuit and with wild hosts like Howard Stern, but the Vatican has been known to rely
on Wireless Flash as well, and a variety of network affiliates use Moye and co.'s news to lighten the tone after a heavy broadcast.

Content/Contacts

"We look at the news, say, 'What's the strangest thing people are talking about, but that other news services don't have the guts to ask,'" Moye says. For example, when
Monica's stained navy dress was the highlight of most newscasts, Wireless Flash approached a presidential memorabilia collector to find out whether it would have value. The New
York Post and other outlets ran with Wireless Flash's astounding discovery that the dress could fetch upwards of $500,000.

Moye and his fellow editors follow the credo "first, fresh and freaky," so if your news has hit the other wires (or hints at the sober or mundane), he likely won't pick up on
it. But if you're willing to be flexible and have a sense of humor about your pitch, this wire service is made for you.

Moye prefers to receive pitches via phone at 619/220-7191.

Pitch Tips

"Our best relationships with PR professionals are not the relationships with the interns reading off a script who can't react on a dime," warns Moye. PR practitioners who offer
a conventional pitch or who refuse to work with the Wireless Flash editors on their (often irreverent) terms won't get too far.

But communicators who are willing to come up with alternative angles for their stories or experts are definitely appreciated. If your story has an odd twist you might not share
with other news organizations, all the better: "Usually PR pros have stories they keep for their best friends. When you go home, is this something you'll tell them? Today a
magazine publicist gave me a story on a magazine coming out with photos of a model who hasn't been able to do autographs since a guy had an epileptic seizure at one of her
signings."

Comments

Moye is proud to note that small agencies are on equal footing with larger firms where Wireless Flash is concerned. And because the service is so deeply interested in pop
culture and the "freaky and fun" stories of the day, "We would be just as impressed to get an interview with Tito Jackson as we would be to interview Michael Jackson."

One item the newswire usually doesn't cover is new books, especially business books. The last one Moye remembers covering focused on how to climb the corporate ladder using
your skills as a dominatrix.

In The Pipeline

As a wire service, Wireless Flash is primarily guided by the news of the day. But the service does have a datebook, which features upcoming events and bizarre occurrences that
the editors will cover.

The writers don't require a long lead time, but they do prefer to receive news and information in advance of other outlets, in keeping with the "fresh" part of their motto.
"Once it's picked up by AP and is their idea of a 'weird' story, we don't want it anymore," Moye says.