Our Roving Reporter talks to Ian Reynolds, the man behind the
Cheshire Life Bluegrass feature.

This article was prompted by Dan Quinton’s comments about “If you’re going to do it, do it properly!”. See NWBN May 1998 “Interview with Dan Quinton”

A MATE OF MINE WORKED ROUND THE CLOCK to get an important sales bid out on time. He toiled for two days, completed the task on time, and it looked great. He was really proud of it. Days later he was badly deflated. “I hate this company” he told me, “doing that bid was like peeing yourself in dark trousers... you get a nice warm feeling, but no-one else notices.” All of which, uncomfortably, made me think about some of our bluegrass events.

Ian Reynolds began to change that when his article, The Blue, Bluegrass of Home, appeared in Cheshire Life’s September 1997 issue. Ian is a professional writer, and a bluegrass ‘nut’. His stock in trade these days are feature articles for many magazines and newspapers, but he comes from that bastion of media manipulation: the corporate PR department.

...doing that bid was like peeing
yourself in dark trousers...

“You have to put yourself in the shoes of the editor of the newspaper, or the producer at the radio / TV station. With so many hours of airtime or pages to fill, editors are always looking for stories, snippets or bits of news. The trick is to know what individual editors tend to choose, and to give them more of the same” says Ian. “This means you have to approach your subject by looking at it through the eyes of the editor. The bad news is this: the outside world thinks that fully grown blokes who meet up to play hillbilly music the whole time are eccentrics. The good news is that all the world loves an eccentric. Personally, I think there’s nothing eccentric about spending a week-end at a pick, but my opinion counts for nothing.”

There’s another story about a salesman that makes this point. Bloke selling a new kind of shirt harangues potential customer. Said customer likes the blue, the brown, yellow and pink, but he hates the purple. What should the salesman do, insist that the purple is essential, or forget about the purple altogether - loading the punter up with those other colours he likes?

“That’s it.” says Ian. “Take the story about New River Ranch. The editor of Lancashire Life told me that the editor of Cheshire Life wouldn’t be interested in a story about Bluegrass. So I didn’t offer him one. He’d never heard of the group, or Bill Keith, or Charlie or Ernie, so that would’ve been like flogging a dead horse. But a story about a bloke calling himself ‘Johnny Plank’ who indulges his obsession by mounting unlikely events had a chance. So, that’s the angle I took, and it worked.

....a story about a bloke
calling himself ‘Johnny Plank’
mounting unlikely events
had a chance...

“Having won a platform in this way, the trick is to deliver the story you’ve promised, whilst making sure that the story you want to tell is there anyway. I wanted people to know that bluegrass was around for them to try and that they’d be made to feel welcome if they chose to give it a shot. That was achieved by using Mr Plank as ‘fall guy’ (with his enthusiastic co-operation), rather than by using the assembled vituosi.

“Think about the word ‘Bluegrass’ in your promotional activities. What does this term mean to people? Not a lot. In the Cheshire piece, I committed a lot of words to describing ‘the sound’. To trying to make it exciting. The word counts for nothing unless people understand it.”

And now we’re in to Ian’s strength as a writer. “I do general stuff: anything that an ordinary reader might like. You have to grab readers in the first paragraph, just like a song has to impress in the first few bars. If you don’t do this, your readers will pass by your piece. So will editors. You have to assume no specialised knowledge and interest people anyway. So, I can e-mail a story about a clog maker, a maggot farmer, a rope maker, a banjo player - whatever - and make sure that people who start to read it are drawn into the piece.” Not that most NWBN readers will be trying to sell writing to magazines on a commercial basis...

“It doesn’t matter at all” Ian insists. “ Some of the events we’ve had in Cheshire this year have had enormous potential for media coverage. The barge trip that Bryn organised was a case in point. Keith, Wisor and Sykes should have had TV and Radio coverage coming out of their ‘you know whats’, but if you don’t tell the press, don’t be surprised when no-one shows. All you have to do is send out press releases and follow them up.”

Which sounds easy, but how do you go about that?

Get a headline that’ll attract attention,
like ‘Hillbillies Barge into Cheshire’.

“Find an angle that delivers the kind of story that media wants. For instance, Granada TV or BBC North West Tonight wouldn’t be interested in ‘banjo player Bill Keith’ coming to the region. But I’m sure they’d be up for ‘Banjos on the Boat’. Narrow boats are a massive part of North West culture, the band reflects a tradition culture from thousands of miles away. That the two can come together in harmony would interest them, it’s a juxtaposition of images, a contrast.”

Sounds simple enough, but how is a press release written? “It’s a formula. First, keep it brief - never more than one page of A4. Write ‘Press release’ at the top. Sounds easy, many forget. Then get a headline that’ll attract attention, like ‘Hillbillies Barge into Cheshire’. Then write what is happening, when, where, why (if appropriate), and how much. Offer a journalist the chance of an exclusive if you can; you know - ‘this guy is one of only two that have played banjo on a number one country song, and I can get you to talk to him’. Be aware of TV and radio practices: If you want your story to be on Granada Reports, it’s no-use having a photo call late in the afternoon - they’ve missed their deadline. Get TV round in the morning. Most important of all, make it easy for the media to contact you. Give them every number you might be contactable on, and/or keep your mobile switched on.”

“Many radio stations are starving for material. Especially the talk stations like GMR and Radio Lancashire. Radio stations can send a reporter round and do ‘live links’ into the studio, some stations will simply put you on air if you call them up. Keep it simple, make it easy for them and they’ll use your story.”

It sounds a lot like hard work to me, but Ian won’t have it. “No, it’s fun. You don’t have to be Shakespeare, in fact it’s more about selling than about writing.”

As you might expect, Ian is always on the look out for a story, and he would welcome calls from organisers who have an event planned. We should see Ian as a resource, he’s on our side. If you want to contact him, his company is called ‘Heart of The North’, and is based in Manchester. You can phone him on 01610-273-4111

“Think of it this way: the media have what we want - a means to communicate with the masses. And we have what they want - the potential for quirky stories about leisure activities, unusual days out and - of course - music. But remember that the music, however good we think it is - might not in itself be the way to get what you want...”

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Updated 23rd Jan 1999