Arranging an Interview

You want to do interviews on your podcast, but that presents a bit of a problem: finding people who are willing to be interviewed.

Asking for interviews is a lot easier than it sounds. Most people are happy to get the attention, and will sit down with you for quite a while when asked. A technique that has worked well for me for people who are closer to “everyday” than “celebrity” is to just show up and ask to talk to them — it is far harder to say no in person than it is on the phone or via email. Just make sure you are confident and tell them exactly what you want from them at the beginning of the process.

I usually say that I’m interested in interviewing them for an “internet radio show” that is heard all around the world. This avoids the “What’s a podcast?” discussion and lends credibility right away. For my personal podcast, I’ll say something like “Hi, I’m here from BostonBehindtheScenes.com to request an interview.” If you put it like that, they may feel like they should know who you are and will assume that you are someone they want to talk to.