Hella Solutions blog: "Document. Share. Inspire."

The other week I got word that a radio program was looking for pitches (a concise, flushed out idea for a story) for an upcoming program of theirs on HIV and AIDS among women. The catch was that I had to have it in within a few hours. My gawd, I thought to myself, this is my first pitch to a radio program and I only have a few freakin’ hours?! I have to admit, I guess I also felt lucky because what they were asking for was exactly what my SisterLove documentary project addressed. So, I clicked into high gear and wrote out a pitch and sent it in – not really understanding what a pitch should look like but trusting that my project was what they were looking for. Low and behold they loved it and hired me to produce an eight minute segment to be included in their 29 minute program! YES! I was and remain so excited!!!

So, all you SisterLove: Keeping it Real fans will be able to hear a re-envisioned 8 minute segment on an upcoming installment of the nationally and internationally syndicated program Making Contact with host Tena Rubio. It will broadcast on or around World AIDS Day (December 1st) so stop by the National Radio Project’s web site for a list of the over 200 stations that air their program to find your local station. You can also get Making Contact via a pod-cast or even stream it online. Visit www.radioproject.org for all the info. They are an asset to the radio community and a great program to listen to!

As an independent radio producer I’m asking you to please support projects like Making Contact because they in turn use your donations to support producers like myself that larger entities don’t always do. You can do it now and online! Please do so…

For those interested in the after-hire process here’s a quick synopsis: After receiving word that they wanted me to produce a piece based on my larger project I spent a lot of time crunching my 18 minute piece down to 8 minutes. Then I got word from their editor that they liked my 8 minutes but wanted some structural changes and it needed to be cut down to around 6 or 7 minutes. And this needed to be done by the next day. Holy crap! With the assistance of their editor, I got the structure revamped and the time down to 6 minutes !!! Then, that night, I was told that they actually needed the piece to be back up around 8 minutes — since mine is being played last in the 29 minute segment I guess it is being used to take up any slack left by the others. So, we worked out some ideas on where some time could be added and voila! Okay, it wasn’t exactly that easy but we got it done. And I quite enjoyed the process…really, I learned a lot. So, all you first time producers: Don’t be afraid to submit your pitches (and keep revamping and re-submitting them if they are not accepted the first, second, or even third and fourth times). Also, if you are asked to rework your pieces, don’t be afraid to revamp and re-work; it’s a great learning process!

NoahC audio documentary, how to