CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Press and Media

Getting Other People to Tell Your Story

Social media is the story you tell about yourself. Email and text are the story you tell directly to your people. This chapter is about the most credible story of all: the one other people tell about you. When a journalist writes about your room, a TV segment features your chicken bingo, a travel writer puts you on a “best honky tonks in Texas” list, or a radio DJ raves about last night’s show, something happens that no amount of your own marketing can buy — a trusted third party vouches for you, in public, to an audience that may never have heard your name. That’s earned media, and it carries a credibility and a reach that paid and owned channels simply can’t match.

Here’s the good news, and it’s the through-line of this whole book paying off: a Texas honky tonk is inherently newsworthy. You are sitting on exactly the things the media loves — authenticity, characters, history, live music, only-in-Texas tradition, human stories, and genuinely fun and photogenic activities. Where most businesses struggle to find a single angle worth a reporter’s time, you have a building full of them. The challenge isn’t manufacturing a story; it’s recognizing the stories you already have and getting them in front of the people who tell stories for a living.

This chapter covers earned media and why it’s worth pursuing, the kinds of press and media that actually matter for a honky tonk, how to give them a story worth telling, and how to pitch and build the relationships that turn into coverage — plus the legal cautions around being truthful with the media and reusing the coverage you earn. The reasons people come and the channels you control get you most of the way; earning the trusted voice of the press is how your story reaches the people you’d never have found on your own.

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23.1 Earned Media: The Coverage You Can’t Buy

There’s a reason “as featured in” carries weight that “we say we’re great” never will: people trust a third party in a way they’ll never trust your own advertising. When you tell the world your honky tonk is special, that’s marketing, and everyone discounts it accordingly. When the local paper, a respected music writer, a TV segment, or a travel magazine says it, that’s a credible, independent endorsement — and it lands completely differently. Earned media borrows the trust and authority of the outlet that grants it, which is exactly why it’s so valuable and why it can’t simply be purchased.

Earned media does three things at once that are hard to get any other way. It delivers credibility — the third-party stamp that makes a skeptical stranger willing to give you a try. It delivers reach to new audiences — the readers, viewers, and listeners of that outlet, most of whom are outside your existing social following and email list, exactly the new people you most need to reach. And it delivers lasting assets — a great piece of coverage doesn’t evaporate like a social post; “featured in Texas Monthly” or “as seen on the morning news” becomes a permanent part of your story, something you point to for years (within the rules the heads-up covers).

And here is the part that makes earned media so achievable for a honky tonk specifically: you are built for it. Reporters and producers are perpetually hungry for stories that are visual, human, authentic, and fun — and that is the precise description of a good honky tonk on a good night. The history, the characters, the dancing, the quirky tradition, the milestone, the only-in-Texas of it all: these are not just the things that make your room beloved (the whole point of Parts Three and Four), they are the things that make your room coverable. You spent this entire book building a place worth talking about. Earned media is the art of getting the people whose job is talking to notice.

23.2 The Media That Matter

“The media” is not one thing, and for a honky tonk several distinct kinds matter, each reaching a different audience in a different way. You don’t need all of them, but you should know the landscape so you can aim at the ones that fit your room and your goals.

Local press is the foundation: the city newspaper, the alt-weekly, the community and neighborhood papers, and their online versions. They run the events listings that tell your town what’s happening (get on every relevant calendar — it’s free and it works), and they run the features and local-business profiles that can introduce your whole community to your story. Local television is the high-reach prize: the morning shows, the lifestyle and “things to do this weekend” segments, the food features, the human-interest pieces. A single good TV segment can reach more local people at once than almost anything, and stations are always hunting for fun, visual, local content — which, again, is exactly what you have. Radio still matters enormously in Texas, especially country and Texas-music stations: on-air mentions, the DJ who champions your room, ticket giveaways, event promotion, and live remotes from your parking lot on a big night. The relationships with local radio people are worth real effort.

Music media is your natural home: the music writers at the alt-weeklies and dailies, the Texas-music blogs and podcasts and newsletters, the regional scene press. Because live music is central to what you do, you’re a natural subject for the people who cover it — and being known and respected by the music press feeds the artist relationships from Part Three, too. Travel and tourism media is the destination-maker: the travel magazines and sites, the state and regional tourism outlets (Texas Highways and Texas Monthly chief among them), the “best dance halls / best honky tonks / most Texan bars” lists and features. This is where the only-in-Texas authenticity from Chapter 19 pays off — travel media turns an authentic Texas room into a pilgrimage, reaching the visitors and out-of-towners actively seeking the real thing. And the “best of” lists and reader polls — the local “best bar,” “best live music,” “best dance floor” awards — are worth pursuing (and rallying your regulars to vote in), because a “Voted Best Honky Tonk” banner is earned credibility you can fly for a year.

The practical point is to match the outlet to the story and the audience you want. The new Tuesday night goes on the local events calendar; the fiftieth-anniversary celebration is a feature pitch to the city paper and a segment idea for local TV; the authentic-Texas angle goes to travel media; the great show goes to the music press and the radio DJ. Know the landscape, and aim each story where it fits.

23.3 Giving Them a Story Worth Telling

Media coverage runs on stories, not on the bare fact that your bar exists — “we’re a honky tonk and we’d like some press” is not a story, and it’s why most businesses get ignored. The art is recognizing and offering a genuine hook: a specific, timely, interesting angle that gives a reporter a reason to care right now. The wonderful news is that this book has spent twenty-two chapters building exactly these hooks. You are not short of stories; you may just not have recognized them as such.

Look at the story hooks your room already generates. Milestones and occasions: an anniversary (especially a big round one), a reopening, a famous act’s return, the launch of something genuinely new. History and heritage: the decades of stories, the legends who played here, the building’s past, the place’s role in the community — catnip for feature writers, especially tied to a hook like an anniversary. Characters: the owner with the great story, the bartender who’s been here forty years, the regulars, the larger-than-life personalities that make a profile sing. The quirky and the visual: the unusual tradition, the signature activity, the only-in-Texas custom — the chicken bingo, the washer pits, the dollar-bill ceiling, the thing a producer can already picture on screen. Community and charity: the benefit you hosted, the cause you champion, the way you show up for your town — genuinely good for the community and genuinely good press. And the timely tie-in: connecting your room to something already in the news — the two-step revival, the rodeo season, a trend a reporter is already chasing.

The single most useful skill here is learning to think like a journalist about your own room — to look at your place and ask not “how do I get press?” but “what here is a story?” The new owner restoring a beloved old hall; the hundred-year-old dance hall still going; the viral tradition; the band that broke out after playing your stage; the milestone; the character. When you start seeing your room through a reporter’s eyes, you realize you generate potential stories constantly — and the ones that get covered are simply the ones someone recognized, shaped into a clear hook, and offered to the right person at the right time.

One more principle: the activities and traditions from Part Four are story-generating machines. This is not a coincidence — it’s why the quirky, participatory, only-in-Texas activities are such powerful PR. A signature tradition like chicken bingo isn’t just fun for the room; it’s a perfect, evergreen, irresistible story that the media returns to again and again. Build the genuinely distinctive, genuinely Texan, genuinely fun activities, and you’re not only filling the room — you’re manufacturing the very stories that earn the coverage that fills future rooms.

23.4 The Pitch and the Relationship

Having a story is half of it; getting it to the right person, the right way, is the other half — and it comes down to two things, the pitch and the relationship, with the relationship mattering far more over time.

The pitch, done simply and well. You don’t need a fancy PR firm to pitch local media; you need to identify the right person (the specific reporter who covers music, food, or local life — not a generic “news tip” inbox), reach them with a short, genuine, specific note, and make their job easy. A good pitch leads with the hook (“Our dance hall turns 100 this spring and we’re throwing a celebration with the granddaughter of the founder”), explains briefly why their audience would care, and offers everything they need to say yes: the key facts, a great photo or two, an offer of access and a conversation. Keep it short, make it about a story and not an ad for your bar, and respect that they’re busy. Have a simple press kit ready — a one-page fact sheet (the history, the basics, the what-makes-you-special), good high-resolution photos, and your contact info — so that when a reporter bites, you can hand them what they need instantly. Making yourself easy to cover is a real and underrated advantage.

The relationship, which is where the real, lasting press lives. One-off pitches occasionally land; relationships with local media people produce coverage for years. Get to know the local reporters, the music writers, the radio DJs, the producers — not as marks to be pitched, but as people in your community whose work you follow and respect. Be a genuinely good source: responsive, honest, helpful, quotable, and useful even when it’s not about you (point them to a good story, connect them to an artist, help them out). Invite them to the place, treat them well, and become the venue they think of first when they need a music story, a fun segment, a local-color piece, a “where should we go” recommendation. The owner who is known, liked, and trusted by the local media has a standing advantage that no single pitch can buy — because when you have the relationship, the press often comes to you.

Two closing principles. Be reliably easy and gracious to work with — say yes to the segment, accommodate the shoot, hit the deadline, make the reporter look good, and you become someone the media wants to cover again. And turn coverage into a lasting asset: when you earn a great piece, put it to work — share it (with credit), add a tasteful “as featured in” to your website and your story, frame it for the wall and the living scrapbook, fold it into your reputation — within the legal lines the heads-up draws. Earned media compounds: each piece of credible coverage makes the next one easier to get and adds another permanent layer to the story the world tells about your room.

One practical thing that trips up almost every first-time pitcher: different media run on completely different clocks, so timing your pitch is half the battle. A glossy monthly magazine — a Texas Monthly or Texas Highways — plans its issues months in advance, so an anniversary party you pitch two weeks out is hopelessly late for their pages; those need to hear from you a season or more ahead. Local television and the daily paper, by contrast, work on a short fuse of days and want a timely hook — something happening now or this week. Weekly event calendars typically want your listing a week or two out. Seasonal and travel features are often planned far ahead, around the calendar (the rodeo-season piece is assigned long before rodeo season). The lesson is to match your lead time to the outlet: pitch the long-planning magazines early, the TV and daily news close to the event with a fresh hook, and the calendars in their window — and never assume “it’s coming up soon” means you’re on time without knowing that particular outlet’s clock.

23.5 Showing Up Well When the Cameras Come

Landing the coverage is only half the job; the other half is being good in it, because the value of a feature or a segment depends entirely on how well you deliver when the recorder is running — and this is a learnable skill most owners never think to develop.

Decide who speaks for the venue, and prepare them. The owner, a manager, a charismatic long-time bartender — someone should be the designated, comfortable, on-the-record face of the place, so the venue speaks with one warm, consistent voice rather than whoever happens to be standing there. That person should walk into any interview knowing the two or three things they most want the audience to take away — the story, the hook, the heart of the place — and steer the conversation toward them, because a reporter will use something, and you want it to be your best material, not a throwaway line. You don’t need formal media training or a script; you need to know your own story cold and be able to tell it warmly.

Be the interview people want to run. The venues that get covered again and again are the ones that are a pleasure to cover: tell the story in vivid, specific, human detail rather than corporate mush (“my granddad built this floor by hand and we’ve never replaced a board” beats “we have a lot of history” every time); be concise and quotable, handing them clean lines they can actually use; be warm, genuine, and comfortable rather than stiff or salesy; and make the reporter’s job easy in the moment — good light, a good spot to shoot, access to the room and the characters, a great visual served up ready to go. A reporter who has a great experience and gets great material at your place comes back, and tells colleagues, and you’ve turned one segment into a standing relationship.

And don’t just wait for stories — occasionally make them. Beyond pitching what already exists, you can proactively create moments built for coverage and invite the media to them: a media preview of the newly restored hall, a press-and-VIP night before a big reopening, a photo-friendly event timed and staged so a photographer or TV crew can’t resist it, a milestone celebration designed with the cameras in mind. Done with genuine substance rather than as a hollow stunt, a purpose-built press moment hands the media a ready-made, visual, dated reason to show up — and gives you a measure of control over the story, the timing, and the images the world ends up seeing. The room that both recognizes its existing stories and knows how to manufacture the occasional good one, and then shows up well when the cameras arrive, has the whole earned-media game in hand.