Here is the TMM (Tom Miller Media) game plan for public radio outreach in a nutshell:
The goal: To outreach DJs as well as music directors at public radio stations in the 11 most western states. (Music directors receive piles of CDs each day and it is unlikely they have personal communication with each of the multitude DJs on their station regarding each CD.) Increasing DJ awareness of your album is the objective. There are many more DJs than music directors. States include California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana.
Why Public Radio: Because the DJ's pick the songs and the stations feature roots, Americana, progressive country, folk and music mix. Because the shelf life of the albums is a lot longer that hit radio. The shelf life can be over twenty years for many albums.
How: for a reasonable fee, TMM sends your CD to approx. 70 to 100 Public Radio Station Music Directors (depending on how many styles of music are on the album). Including radio networks, this reaches about 150 or more stations or frequencies. Then several days later, we send between 300 and 600 full color, personalized, hand written postcards to the DJs making them aware of the CD, when it was sent to the station, who it was sent to and what songs are relevant for their radio show.

We do not use bulk mail--we send each handwritten card with a postage stamp. Primary styles are roots, Americana, folk, music mix, bluegrass and blues.

Cost: $2,000.00 to be paid in advance. TMM pays for all postage and mailing materials and the postcards.

You provide: The CDs, a digital photo, reguar photo or CD cover and any one-sheets (biographical info and or info on the album) you may want us to include in the CD mailing to the music directors. We take it from there.

Further follow-up: We supply you with a list of all the public radio stations and the music directors, the city and state and phone numbers. This is so you can follow up (call to ask the music director if he or she has seen the CD that was mailed to them and a later follow-up call to see if DJs on the station have played or are playing the CD.
If a music director can't find the CD--a not uncommon occurrence as they receive so many of them--you can call me and we will mail them another copy. Also a few DJs may call and ask for a play copy for their show. You may want to send TMM ten extra CDs to cover follow-up mailings for a three-month period after the initial mailings. We can mail you back the balance of the CDs after the three-month period.

If TMM does the follow-up tracking calls: Should you choose not do follow-up calls to music directors yourself, TMM can do that for you. We charge an additional $2,000.00 to contact music directors over an eight-week period to inquire if they have received the CD and to track airplay. We provide detailed tracking reports.

Tour support: Should you tour in areas where the CD and full color glossy postcards were mailed, you can hire TMM to mail an inexpensive, card stock postcard to the DJs and music directors apprising them of your tour. You can also ask them if they would like to host you on their station or show. This service is not included as part of the cost of the initial CD outreach.

TMM can't guarantee airplay, only the comprehensive outreach as stated above.