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For Immediate Release Goes LIVE

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Luke Armour

FIRReaders of this blog will know that one of my favorite podcasts is “For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report.” If you’re reading this blog and not listening to FIR, stop reading right now, go to ForImmediateRelease.biz and sign up for the blog and podcast feed. Or, as an introduction you can check out this Saturday’s live episode on BlogTalkRadio.

This Saturday, February 9, at 10am PT/1pm ET/ 6pm GMT, hosts Neville Hobson and Shel Holtz will host a special live call-in edition of “For Immediate Release: The Hobson and Holtz Report” on BlogTalkRadio.

The call-in episode will focus on the blurring of the lines between internal and external communications. If you work in external PR, how do employees of your (or your client’s) company affect your communication efforts? If you work in internal communications, how does your role change in order to prepare employees for their growing role as points of contact and brand experiences in the social media sites where they participate?

It works just like my show, The Rundown. Visit the FIR BlogTalkRadio profile page to listen or call 347.324.3723 to join in the conversation, (you may also listen via phone, pressing ‘1’ to be put in the talking queue).

If you miss the live show, the audio will still come through the podcast feed, so no worries. Should be great show and I hope to hear you there.

(as per usual, I tell you that I work for BlogTalkRadio)

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Filed under: BlogTalkRadio, Corporate Communication, internal communication, Podcast, podcasting, Public Relations | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

The Rundown with Peter Himler

Posted on February 7, 2008 by Luke Armour

This week I have Peter “The Flack” Himler on The Rundown. Peter’s an well rounded and extremely experience PR professional and one of the most interesting and knowledgeable bloggers out there. As always, The Rundown is my LIVE Tuesday BlogTalkRadio show featuring an analysis or summary of something by a knowledgeable person – and me. Peter and I will take a look at the broader picture of where traditional and PR 2.0 meet, including what competencies survive, and what new competencies are needed for success.  We’ll try to tackle such topics as how stories grow in a fragmenteed media world, and how to thwart a crisis in that fragmented media world.  We may also touch on the interesting divide between Silicon Valley and middle America – since I live in there.

Peter is founder and principal of Flatiron Communications LLC, a PR/media consulting firm in New York. He most recently served as Chief Media Officer for Edelman Worldwide, following 11 years with Burson-Marsteller as head of the agency’s U.S. corporate and strategic media team and its worldwide spokesperson.

Listen to The Rundown on internet talk radio

Join us live this Tuesday, February 12, 2008 at 1:30pm Eastern on BlogTalkRadio to listen, to text chat or to call in at (646) 716-8329. Hope to see/hear you there.

Filed under: BlogTalkRadio, Public Relations, Social Media, The Rundown | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

The Rundown with Kami Huyse

Posted on January 24, 2008 by Luke Armour

This week I bring Kami Huyse, PR professional, APR and Blogger at Communication Overtones to the show. As always, The Rundown is my Tuesday LIVE BlogTalkRadio show featuring an analysis or summary of something by a knowledgeable person – and me. This week we analyze why the blogosphere is more volatile than nitroglycerine and as an unpredictable as a rabid dog. Not unrelated, we’ll also be discussing a recent interview she conducted with Pat Philbin over FEMA’s questionable communication practices. This is going to be a fun show, you should join us.

Kami Watson Huyse, APR, principal of My PR Pro, writes about public relations and communications. She has a background in crisis communication and reputation management, executing social media campaigns, conducting focus group research, and media relations.

Listen to The Rundown on internet talk radio

Join us live this Tuesday, January 29, 2008 at 1:30pm Eastern on BlogTalkRadio to listen, to text chat or to call in at (646) 716-8329.

Filed under: BlogTalkRadio, Podcast, podcasting, Public Relations, The Rundown | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Good Story, Bad "Invisible PR,"

Posted on November 12, 2007 by Luke Armour

There’s nothing like getting a story in a big paper about a client or your business. As the press grows more and more hyper-local with each passing day, PR people always need to be thinking of great local angles to make the story work for both the reporter and the client.

Another great thing about PR is to make sure the client or business is the story, not the pitch or the PR person. The Bad Pitch Blog detailed a great example of a pitch so good, it became part of the story. But it worked all the same.

armour-btr.jpgSo, yes, there are times when you have to break those rules to help get the story told. And that’s why my goofy face is plastered on the Your Business Solutions section of today’s Akron Beacon Journal.

“Caller, You’re on the Air“, by Beacon Journal business writer, Paula Schleis, sums BlogTalkRadio up with this subhead: ALL YOU NEED IS A PHONE, COMPUTER.

Since becoming the public relations coordinator for BlogTalkRadio in August, Luke Armour said the Web site — which allows people to host their own free, live call-in talk shows — has surprised him in two ways: What it’s used for. What it’s not used for…

[and my all time favorite quote] ”You can host a show talking about your cat if you want,” he said.

Read the rest of the article > >

Hey, if it works, it works. I was pleased I had something to offer. I was pleased I could help craft this story with a local journalist. And I was really pleased that there was coverage of BTR and it was good.

Not so pleased about me becoming the “basement blogger” stereotype, but, hey, at least I’m wearing pants.

Or am I?

The sidebar of the article details some of the fun content on the network.

Photo by Mike Cardew/Akron Beacon Journal

Filed under: PR Lessons Learned, Admin Notes, BlogTalkRadio, media relations, Public Relations | Tagged: , , | 5 Comments »

BlogTalkRadio Adds Social to Internet Radio and Podcasting

Posted on September 17, 2007 by Luke Armour

At the risk of turning my personal/professional blog into a billboard for my employer, I’m posting this post. I can’t help it, it’s too exciting and also one of the reasons I haven’t posted anything else since my last BlogTalkRadio post.

Today we launched a new site with new features and great new social media components. It adds more “social” to podcasting and Internet radio than ever before.

One of the biggest benefits to podcasting has also been one of my biggest complaints: asynchronous communication and community building. We all love podcasts because they’re “on demand.” We can listen when and where we want. But there’s always been that lack of immediate interaction. Most podcasts I listen to are community based and comment driven, but there’s that gap among when it was recorded it to when it was downloaded and when it was actually listened to and, finally, when it a comment was sent in.

For Immediate Release hosts Hobson and Holtz tackled this problem by having a few SkypeCasts in the past. Those were great shows and allowed the audience to directly interact with the hosts and each other. They had even set up a text chat on the backend.

But BlogTalkRadio does all that for you now. And it’s one of the reasons I joined the team. It brings community close to home. Well now it’s gone one step further and added a social networking component and text chat to the site. Hosts and Listeners can set up profiles, link to each other and build a bigger, stronger community on the network. I’m excited about it. Plus, cool new logo. Check out all the new stuff.

If podcasting was something you’ve wanted to try, but didn’t like the technical aspect of it, try BTR. Live, easy and still delivered via RSS.

Oh, and in full disclosure, I work for BlogTalkRadio if you haven’t figured that out by now.

Update: CEO Alan Levy has a good run down of the new features with a top level perspective.

Filed under: Admin Notes, BlogTalkRadio, Podcast, podcasting, Social Media | 1 Comment »

Yours Truly Joins BlogTalkRadio

Posted on August 22, 2007 by Luke Armour

blog-logo-beta.gifWhat’s bald, exceptional in front of large groups of people and travels a lot? That’s right, Mitch Joel!

But in completely unrelated news, I joined BlogTalkRadio! Not simply as a host, but as a member of the team.

To this day when I mention podcasting, I still get strange looks from the people I’m speaking to. Only half of the people who have heard the word “podcast” even really know what it is. Only a fraction of those remaining people have ever listened to an actual podcast. Granted, I live in Ohio, a place not overwhelmingly known for its lightning adoption of new technologies. Oh, sure, our folk invented human flight and the light bulb, but even Edison was shocked to see his family’s old house still lit by lamps and candles over 40 years after he patented it.

But that’s not my central point. I’m very pleased to announce that I am the PR Coordinator for this incredible social radio network. The team at BTR is an energetic, smart group of people from whom I expect to learn a lot. I will still be based in Ohio, so those of you who appreciate my rural isolation can continue to enjoy that caustic, desolate side of my writing. Also, because of the nature of my job, I’m hoping to have more time to wax lyrical about PR and marketing on this very blog.

In the meantime, I encourage you to read my first post on the BTR blog where I discuss my attraction to the BlogTalkRadio platform and my role as PR Coordinator. News Release about it there and here. I urge you to check out the service. I find it to be the answer to podcasting for the masses as well as taking the podcast community to the next level. We’re also rolling out a new website in the beginning of September, so if you find yourself raising an eyebrow due to the current site – just wait.

You ain’t seen or heard nothing yet.

Special thanks to my ‘mate’ Paull Young, without whom I wouldn’t be able to compare myself to someone and say “well, thank God I’m not that guy.” Oh, and he introduced me to Mr. John C. Havens, which was very good too.

Updated links 8/24/07 

Filed under: Admin Notes, BlogTalkRadio | 25 Comments »