Sasha Talks with Sasha Laghonh Crafting an Impactful Pitch: Do's, Don'ts and Pitching Etiquette for Radio and Podcasts In this solo edition of Sasha Talks, host Sasha Laghonh breaks down how to craft an impactful pitch for any radio show, podcast or media platform, sharing real-life do's and don'ts drawn from years of reviewing submissions herself. Setting The Stage For Pitch Etiquette Sasha Laghonh opens the broadcast from sashatalks.com, telling listeners the hour builds on advice she has shared previously on her private platforms about submitting a pitch to any community, network, radio station or host. She notes that terms of service and disclaimers apply, and that she speaks only from her own professional and personal experience as an independent contributor, not on behalf of BBS Radio Network. Having received pitches through many channels worldwide, she says she has seen plenty worth emulating alongside pitching etiquette and behaviors she discourages on any platform, in any capacity, on any continent. She promises listeners real-life examples of do's and vague real-life examples of don'ts before diving in. Recalling a lesson from a mentor years ago, she repeats that everything in life has a function, and if it lacks function, it doesn't matter. A pitch, she explains, is a chance to make an impression and share a preview of who you are and what you do, but it only matters if you let it. Reading The Form Before You Submit Sasha walks listeners through what she looks for when an open call or opportunity appears, whether posted on a website, mentioned in a magazine, or found on a show page. She urges candidates to study the format and requirements before filling anything out, asking whether there are guidelines or prerequisites and whether every field truly gets completed. She describes a recurring frustration: people rush through an entire form, check a box admitting they did not read the rules, then submit anyway, which she treats as an automatic delete. Pitches have come her way in the five figures, she says, and she deletes a large majority, by her estimate 65 to 70 percent, often without reading them fully. She explains how her own show's submission form works, noting that any blank required field shows up as incomplete on her end and gets discarded. Filling out the candidate's actual name matters too, she says, since agencies and representatives sometimes submit on someone else's behalf without making that relationship clear, leaving the eventual guest confused about who contacted them. Terms, Availability, And Lending Your Voice Sasha moves into the mechanics of a strong submission, encouraging a brief bio rather than a full life story, since a short overview helps a host judge fit quickly and narrows down scheduling against the show's own availability. She distinguishes complimentary community engagements from pay-to-play arrangements, cautioning that paying for access never guarantees acceptance and that a dignified pitch aligned with the host's genre still matters either way. She highlights the question most pitches skip entirely: whether the candidate explicitly accepts the terms of service and disclaimers that make the appearance a mutually beneficial, protected collaboration. Turning to the idea of lending one's voice and image, she explains that guests who appear on dozens of other podcasts sometimes balk when a station's terms spell out, in writing, that their voice and likeness will be used to promote the episode. She tells such reluctant guests plainly that declining to grant that permission defeats the purpose of pitching at all, since an interview cannot run on silence. The Three Elements Every Pitch Needs Sasha breaks down what she considers the basics of a well-built pitch: a premise, a frame of reference and a clear objective. The premise, she says, is the foundation that sets the focus of a proposed interview within its limited start and end time, and she faults many submitters for offering their whole life story instead of a single thread. The frame of reference asks how the proposed topic actually connects to the network or genre being pitched, and she contrasts long rambling pitches with one-line notes that simply say "include me as a contributor," both of which she deletes without hesitation. She compares a pitch lacking that connection to announcing you went to the bathroom without saying what happened afterward. The objective, she explains, is the optimal goal of the engagement, whether promoting a brand, continuing an educational conversation or resuming a prior professional dialogue. She singles out Hollywood brush-in encounters as one of the most overrated pitch themes she sees globally, since a passing celebrity sighting rarely carries enough substance to fill a 45- to 60-minute conversation. The Do's: Manners, Patience, And Opportunity Sasha offers a run of practical do's for anyone on the pitching circuit. Good manners, she insists, go a long way regardless of title or status, and exercising decorum when filling out a form shows respect for the time of everyone involved. She recounts a story from years ago of a male candidate with genuinely useful survival and prosperity content who, after being followed up on about a skipped question, responded with a multi-page written tirade; she deleted it after two sentences and treats the memory as proof that bad behavior is remembered no matter how far someone climbs. She encourages candidates to give every engagement their best, describing her own experience as a guest on major-market live radio where a strong five-minute appearance led a producer to invite her back weeks later for another slot. Being yourself, having fun without ego, and communicating promptly if an emergency prevents an appearance round out her list, alongside a reminder that pitching is a collaboration, not a transaction where the guest holds more leverage than the host. The Don'ts, AI Warnings, And Closing Turning to what to avoid, Sasha lists no shaming, no hating and no preaching, reminding candidates they will sometimes share a panel with strangers they may not personally like and must still remain respectful for the sake of the collaboration. She distinguishes aggressiveness, which she calls a neutral characteristic that can be mindfully channeled, from abrasiveness, which carries its own negative side effects. She warns candidates not to take it personally if a host does not recognize their name, noting there are billions of people on the planet and that anonymity can sometimes work in a new candidate's favor. Her strongest caution concerns artificial intelligence: she tells listeners to write their own pitches rather than rely on AI, since an obvious gap between a polished pitch and an unprepared guest gives any show the right to cut an interview short, and misrepresenting yourself wastes everyone's time. She closes by inviting writers, speakers and guests to visit sashatalks.com and the BBS Radio Network page to submit a profile, signing off for the week wishing listeners to be good, safe and blessed.
