Tales From the Beat

A conversation with Yaron Saghiv, chief marketing officer at tech company UVeye which developed drive-through vehicle inspection stations that can detect myriad of imperfections in vehicles in seconds. We discuss the company and how Saghiv has won massive coverage.

Remember when Cool Hand Luke got the crap beat out of him for a "failure to communicate?" PR people are getting beat up by clients who don't understand the difference between certain types of communication and it's time they started hitting back. Some examples and advice I give from my experience as both a reporter and PR guy.

What happens when a company exec attempts to do the same work as skilled PR people all because they're having a business marital spat? I was recently caught in that sort of comms custody battle. It's not exactly Kramer vs. Kramer but it ain't fun when reporters are the kids in the middle.

Reporters and PR people can't avoid having to say "no" to story pitches, interview requests, etc. but we waste so much time saying "no" because those two little letters can come across as kinda brutal. In this episode I talk about ways to say "no." Some are kind, some blunt and you should hear what ChatGPT came up with.

Wonder why your story pitch goes unanswered or rejected? No better guy to ask then ultimate PR pro Mike DeVilling, president and CEO of Westshore Public Relations.

Oh joy! It's earnings season and that's when PR people and their companies are playing a game of hidden figures in their news releases, especially when the news is bad. This week's episode looks at that, and why that's a losing game. There's also a mention, for some reason, of disc golf.

Story pitching can be a duel between PR person and reporter. A new study from marketing firm PROPEL sheds light on how often reporters open pitches, when they open them, when they respond and what makes a good story pitch.

From communications exec at General Motors to a VP at logistic technology company Geotab, Rob Minton has an expansive career that's taken him from PR to sales and a unique view of news and corporate communications.

Two-parter this week. Finding a local tie-in to a big story is smart, but I found a headline making a valiant attempt that missed the mark. I discuss that and one legendary headline screwup due to one little editing mistake. Second part looks at Gannett's idiotic decision to drop the AP. I worked for both.

What happens when the slightest detail of an embargo bites you in the ass? You feel like one. My true story of what happened this week when I missed one, teeny, weeny, detail that woke up some west coasters three hours early.

It's our 75th episode! Time to take stock of why journalism matters and profiles of three of the many incredible people I've interviewed who make it impossible to quit. It's more than FOMO...it's FOMA...fear of missing amazing.

He's the master of automotive PR, master of his own PR agency and master and creator of the innovative House of Journalists. He's Scott Fosgard. Among auto writers he's no less than a legend because his expertise at pitching, staging events and understanding just what reporters need is legendary. He's also an old friend. We have a fun conversation about it all.

With a little help from Selena Gomez, this week's episode looks at how too much reliance on artificial intelligence can both screw up your writing and piss off people you interview.

Mark Schirmer is an auto writer's best friend. As Director, Corporate Communications for the far-flung auto enterprise that operates such well known brands as Kelley Blue Book, Mannheim and Autotrader, Mark makes sure reporters have all the data, analysis and insight they need to add substance to their stories. But as you'll hear, Mark, and the Cox team go way beyond just pitching experts....

Uh, oh. CNN killed another morning show. I feel their pain. I actually produced CNN's morning show "Daybreak" in its much earlier days and now share the madness, and some secrets, of trying to put together a morning show people actually want to wake up to. After some reflection, and a reminder from my Daybreak director, I decided to add a lot more detail to the original podcast.

Two automakers announced two very different strategies for hybrid vehicles this week...one on offense, the other on defense. As a journalist caught in the middle, it made for a fascinating look at two companies trying to figure out the best road to the same destination.

What do confusion, Kylie Jenner's pink hair and EVs have in common? All key elements in a ball of confusion.

Where do reporters get all those stats and research on the auto industry for their stories? One of the best sources is Kevin Roberts, Director of Industry Insights and Analytics at auto research and sales site, CarGurus.com. Kevin chats with me about how he frames his research so reporters can understand it and report it clearly and accurately, how often reporters don't get it right, what tren...

It's time again for the annual tech trade show extravaganza, the CES Show. What's that mean for reporters? It means attempting to stay above water under the deluge of PR pitches to cover reveals, unveilings, news conferences or begging to just give an exec the ego trip of an in-person interview. Some real life tales of trying not to drown in PR tsunami that develops every year in the CES p...

One automaker said it's sitting out this year's Chicago Auto Show and may skip others. Other companies are abandoning auto shows to save money and move to other modes of introducing new vehicles. This week's episode looks at the auto show's incredible shrinking act, new roles and how I had a hand in the whole thing almost two decades ago.

Some highlights from the first 64 episodes, September 2022-December 2023. Includes clips from interviews with Paul Oakley at Tiny Mighty Communications, Susan Donahue and Megan Kathman at Skyya PR, Natalie Bartels at VSC, Noreen Pratscher at Pratscher Communications, Brent Snavley at Franco PR, Dale Jewett at Stellantis, Elliot Katz at Phantom Auto and Craig Daitch at Telemetry. Also, The Shawn Fa...

Reporters are stuck writing them. PR people are stuck pitching them. The dreaded year-ender. This week's episode looks at everything from how early pitches are being sent to subjects not worth reflecting upon to year-aheads and how to maybe make everything sensible, plus a really bad attempt at a parody of a famous New Year's Eve song.

This week's episode is a lively conversation with Paul Oakley, founder and CEO of Nashville-based PR and marketing agency, Tiny Mighty Communications. We talk about how the "scary" prospect of starting a new business, how he won me over enough to get me to write what, at face value was an esoteric technical story but turned out great, plus we dive into what pisses him off around repo...

When the coldest isn't, a building never was, a horse shuts down a shoot and a tornado victim's values are, well, surprising. All subjects of stuff that's actually happened to me while covering everything from natural disasters to at least one story that really didn't exist. Yup..just some stories about stories on this week's Tales From the Beat.

Noreen Pratscher's done it all in corporate communications as a top level manager at companies like GM, Serta Simmons, TrueCar, JELD-WEN and Siemens Healthcare. Now she's taking the plunge starting her own consultancy. We talk about that, how the relationship between PR and journalists has changed over the years and how successful the auto industry has been at effectively promoting electri...