October 31, 2011 / The_Mike_Johnson

Skills that Get the Guest for Your Television and Radio Show

Budd Mishkin, CENCOM, Center for Communication, Dade Hayes Rubenstein Communications, Dade Hayes Senior Vice President Rubenstein Communications, David Goodman, David Goodman from The John Batchelor Show, Gene Simmons on Joy Behar, How to be a segment producer, How to become a television producer, How to get your book on John Batchelor Show, How to get your guest on John Batchelor Show, How to get your guest on Joy Behar Show, How to get your guest on One on 1 Budd Mishkin, How to get your guest on television, How to get your guest on Wendy Williams show, How to pitch to a television producer, Larry King show, One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, Rena Popp, Rena Popp from The Wendy Williams Show, Sean Flax, Sean Flax from One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, The John Batchelor Show, The Joy Behar Show, The Wendy Williams Show, Todd Polkes, Todd Polkes from The Joy Behar Show, WABC radio, WABCradio.com

CENCOM 2011 panel Celebrity Wranglers: Getting the Guest that featured Sean Flax from One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, David Goodman from The John Batchelor Show, Rena Popp from The Wendy Williams Show, Todd Polkes from

Left to right: Sean Flax from One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, David Goodman from The John Batchelor Show, Rena Popp from The Wendy Williams Show, Todd Polkes from The Joy Behar Show

What does it take to be a producer for The Joy Behar Show or The Wendy Williams Show? If you wanted to get your book or your author on The John Batchelor show, how would you go about it? I attended a CENCOM panel, “Celebrity Wranglers: Getting the Guest,” that provided insight into the skills and sources producers use to get ideas and guests for their show.

The panel included:

Todd Polkes, Senior Producer for The Joy Behar Show
David Goodman, Associate Producer for The John Batchelor Show
Sean Flax, Associate Producer for One on 1 with Budd Mishkin
Rena Popp, Senior Producer for The Wendy Williams Show

Todd Polke, Senior Producer for The Joy Behar Show has used some unconventional methods for getting guests when he was working on The Larry King Show and trying to book LaToya Jackson during the Michael Jackson trial. After many unsuccessful attempts, he heard that LaToya was ill with a cold so he sent her chicken soup from Larry King’s favorite restaurant. LaToya appreciated the gesture and appeared on the show. According to Polke, your role as a producer means that you have to relay to your potential guest (if they appeared on the show), what is the benefit for that guest? With the appearance the guest will have the opportunity to tell his/her story. In researching guests and topics Todd reads Drudge Report, Huffington Post, and thirty other magazines a week. Was there ever a time when a guest walked out on a show? Todd spoke about the Gene Simmons/Shannon Tweed appearance on Joy Baer when Shannon walked off the set as well as when Jan Adams walked off from a Larry King interview.

To be a talented segment producer David Goodman, Associate Producer for The John Batchelor Show feels you must be aggressive and persistent in tracking down a guest which he revealed his method: researching the guest online via LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. A great source in selecting guests and ideas for David is seeing which new books will be released over the upcoming months since those guests will be booked by the time their book is out so best to contact and book them in advance when they will be promoting the new book. As for a backup plan in the event of breaking news and an expert is needed to discuss the specifics of that news event (hostage situation, bomb, national security event) have a roster of people that you can get on short notice/last minute when the event happens.

For Sean Flax, Associate Producer for One on 1 with Budd Mishkin, a talented segment producer needs to find an angle. Since One on 1 with Budd Mishkin is a weekly New York series, it provides an open forum for guests to discuss causes he/she may be involved in so that guest can push their cause and provide more exposure to it and you get a different perspective of that person. As for guests and topics for the show Sean reads all New York newspapers, New York themed blogs, and looks for trends via blogs and Facebook to see what people are talking about.

Rena Popp, Senior Producer for The Wendy Williams Show felt that a key producer skill is researching your guests, and providing insight to the host about what topics/facts will be of interest. To keep up with news, topics, and ideas Rena reads the tabloids as she is looking for stories/events/topics that will be timely, funny, and create discussion. Reana also shared that if you make your guest look good following the show, you will be able to get access to other guests represented by that manager/publicist.

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