It finally happened: my first radio interview. What a doozy! Everything I've always done has been baptism by fire, so why should this be any different? I called the station's studio line at 5 minutes before my 1pm scheduled interview time so I could chat briefly with the hosts to find out if they wanted me to focus on anything in particular and establish who would mention my web site. It rang and rang. No answer. I continued to call. At 1:02 the nervous nelly gene kicked in and I called my publicist. She wasn't in.



I called information for the number (It was a station in Chicago). No listing. I persisted and got a phone number which turned out to be for the station's business office. The receptionist knew nothing about the program I was supposed to be on and couldn't connect me to anyone.

At 1:10 my sweetheart, who was listening in on the Web from Southern California, called me and said (in a loud, irritated voice, I might add). "They're waiting for you on the line!!! Why haven't you called in?" He gave me another number which I called. No answer. At 1:15 I finally got a live human being who told me he was VERY busy and would TRY to get someone to answer the studio line. No one did. At 1:20 the host (who had my number all along, mind you) called and said in a sweetly sarcastic tone, "Susan, we'd love to have you join us whenever you're ready."

When we went live, he said, "After some technical difficulties we have Susan Harrow here discussing her book, "Selling Yourself without Selling Your Soul." I quickly corrected him. "Sell Yourself without Selling Your Soul." Then made a light of the situation saying that I had to use some of the breathing techniques I teach clients to keep calm through the "technical difficulties."

After the faux "technical difficulties", I was in for another surprise. There were questions relevant to nothing in particular (certainly not my book or subject) comments that were totally off the wall ("More highly evolved humans vibrate at slower levels than those less evolved"), and then much pushing of their own products. I took my own advice, transitioned into sound bites most relevant to the discussion while trying to sound like we were having a conversation that made sense. Anyway, the point is four-fold:

1. Always have a back-up number to call.

2. Maintain your equanimity in the face of utter chaos.

3. Correct errors immediately and gracefully.

4. Practice transitioning into material that you know when asked questions that are irrelevant to your topic.

I'm happy to say that this experience hasn't been repeated during my media tour. Everyone who I've interviewed with has been delightful and gracious. I wish you the same wonderful experiences.