This resource is a supplement to the article, 4 Steps to Free Publicity.
This list took me about 45 minutes of thinking and Googling and Facebook searching to find a comprehensive list. But you can easily break the task up and just do one heading a day for about 5 to 10 minutes. Having a marketing background I’m definitely familiar with many local media outlets in my area, however some of the smaller ones are easy to miss. Look around the next time you’re in a doctors office, or any other business with a waiting room to see what’s out for people to browse.
Also don’t forget to ask your friends to help. A simple Facebook post asking for suggestions on shows, programs, or publications that might want to feature you can save you a lot of research time.
The point of this list is just to give you an example of what might be available in your town. Peoria, Illinois has a population of about 115,000 and a metro area (including surrounding towns) of about 375,000 for comparison.
Newspapers (don’t forget weekly or neighborhood specific ones too)
- Journal Star (Daily, subscription home delivery or purchased at stores)
- Community Word (Monthly, distributed free at local businesses)
- The Traveler Weekly
- The Labor Paper (union members)
- Bradley University Student Newspaper (College)
- Surrounding towns
- East Peoria Times-Courier
- Pekin Daily Times
- Morton Times-News
- Chillicothe Times-Bulletin
- Woodford Times
TV stations (list all the news and talk programs done locally too if you can, morning, lunch, evening, late night news)
- WEEK-TV
- 25 News Today (morning show)
- 25 News Midday
- 25 News at Noon
- 25 News at 5 pm
- 25 News at 6 pm
- 25 News at 10 pm
- WHOI-TV
- Heart of Illinois ABC Good Morning Illinois (morning show)
- Heart of Illinois ABC at 5 pm
- Heart of Illinois ABC at 5:30 pm
- Heart of Illinois ABC at 10 pm
- WMBD-TV
- WMBD News This Morning (morning show)
- WMBD News at Noon
- WMBD News at 4 pm
- WMBD News at 5 pm
- WMBD News at 6 pm
- WMBD News at 10 pm
Talk radio stations (you can list other stations that might appeal to your audience with on-air local DJs too but that’s not as likely to get picked up)
- 1470 WMBD Radio (talk radio)
- Greg and Dan
- WPNV-LP 106.3 FM, “Peoria’s Neighborhood Voice,” (various local programs)
- Rock, country, Christian, R&B, etc. music stations too. Most have morning shows, not usually interviews, but hosts talk about various things
- Breakfast With Roger & Friends
Public radio (such as a local NPR station)
- WCBU (NPR) local programing shows and news
- Out and About
- Local news
Public TV (such as a local PBS station)
- WTVP local shows
- At Issue
- Consider This
- Illinois Adventure
- State and Water
Local magazines (most are monthly publications)
- The Peorian
- InterBusiness Issues
- Art & Society
- Peoria Progress
- Several Neighborhood specific ones published by Best Version Media
- Chamber of commerce newsletters
- Healthy Cells
Independent shows, podcasts, and publications (often run by a single individual instead of a larger business)
- Mics Uncut
- PeoriaLife.com (has several shows)
- Explore Peoria