The quarantine during the pandemic has put up some tough new challenges to get PR clients into the news.
It's also opened some new opportunities, as shown by a virtual media tour we've been doing for The National Road Safety Foundation (NRSF).
With Bob Thomas Productions, we've arranged virtual interviews via Skype and Zoom with 19 TV stations in markets ranging from smaller places like Joplin, Missouri to top markets including Washington, D.C., New Orleans,
Cleveland, Nashville and Jacksonville... with more to come.
Here are two typical news segments -- Click to see spots from the CBS station in Cleveland and the CBS outlet in Bakersfield, Calif.
In normal times, Skype interviews would rarely be acceptable for most TV stations because of picture and sound quality and reliability. But now we're accustomed to seeing interview guests and even reporters and anchors broadcasting from their living rooms and kitchens.
Hopefully, whenever things get back to "normal," stations will continue to take interviews via the internet rather than the more costly and time-consuming traditional methods -- traveling cross-country for in-studio interviews or doing spots via costly satellite feeds.
For now, it's working nicely for us.