Depends

I put up an announcement saying I was going to appear on radio station WSDE in Albany, New York. Now I'm writing to tell you not to be so sure.

A reader commented, saying he was from Albany and that he had never heard of the host on whose show I am supposed to appear. So I did some checking. It turns out the show is not based in Albany. It's based in Cobleskill, New York, which is about 40 miles from the nearest city. And the nearest cities are Albany, Troy, and Schenectady. Given my experience with AM stations here in South Florida, I very much doubt WSDE can be heard in any of those cities. Arbitron doesn't even give WSDE a rating in that market. Or any other, as far as I can tell.

So I am not happy. The county where the station is located contains about 32,000 people. My interview is at 12:15, which means it will be over when lunch hour starts. My guess is that a thousand people or less will be listening. I don't see how that can be anything but a waste of time.

I emailed my PR people, and I'm going to be calling them in the morning. I am not pleased that they told me the station was in Albany. Maybe there is some detail I'm missing. They say the station has 50,000 watts, but the Internet says 1000. And 50,000 watts don't mean anything unless the station has an audience.

On a cheerier note, I'm looking into Internet ads. I think Fark would be a great choice. Generally, Internet advertising is an awful idea, but Fark has exactly the audience I need to reach. I might also check out other humor sites.

I will publicize this damn book effectively even if I have to take hostages to do it.