BBC Local radio had its moment in the sun last week. Ahead of Liz Truss’ hour of back-to-back interviews, critics were scathing of a comms strategy that dodged the big beasts, opting instead for – in the words of writer Paul Mason, “a bunch of sleep-deprived non-expert presenters (who) will throw her soft questions”. Well nobody likes to be patronised, so naturally some of those presenters gave the PM an absolute mauling.

I often hear comms people say, “I’ll probably start them on something easy like local radio.” There’s nothing easy about it. For a start there are some excellent journalists kicking around, easily as good as the nationals and armed with a forensic knowledge not just of their patch but also what their audience want.

But – and this is where I might get a bit of flak – there are also some fairly average local radio presenters out there too, without the luxury of a team of producers to brief them. What this can lead to is an awkward and uncomfortable experience for an interviewee having to navigate through an exchange with someone who isn’t across a subject.

“They seemed totally obsessed with X, which I don’t know anything about…” is something I’ve heard a couple of times from delegates over the years.

Treat local interviews like any other. Take time to prepare and do your homework on the presenter as well as their patch.

“We have given contributors the drug of FaceTime”, wrote Jeremy Vine producer Tim Johns on Twitter recently. “How do we wean them off it and get them back in the studio?” As a radio producer he is in no doubt – nothing beats the quality, the warmth and the ‘personal’ of being face to face in a studio. And for you as an interviewee? Well the obvious (and for most, over-riding) factor is time. A 3 hour round-trip to do an in-person interview is now a 15 minute interruption without leaving your desk.

Don’t downplay the negatives though – half the responsibility for the kit working is yours, there’s the unpredictability of wifi signals, Amazon deliveries and toddler tantrums, plus Twitter loves nothing more than the forensic analysis of a messy bookshelf or long-forgotten but highly inappropriate birthday card from a friend.

My take, for what it’s worth, is not to turn your back on offering to go into a studio. You’re less likely to be dropped, you usually get more air-time, and – if nothing else – newsrooms and studios are always pretty interesting places to spend an hour. (It’s amazing the gossip you pick up).

Facetime, Skype and Zoom aren’t going away, and that’s unquestionably a good thing. However let’s not close the door entirely on sitting across the table from the person actually asking you the questions.

Over the summer a chap called Dave Murden died. You won’t have heard of him but for Newsnight producers in the Paxman era he was a legend. Studio director? Editor? Chief guest booker? Nope. Dave was the show’s driver.

Following news of Murden’s death, producer Meirion Jones (and many others) took to social media describing him as one of the unsung behind-the-scenes heroes. The reason being he would listen intently to what guests were saying with their PR teams in the back of his car as he drove them to the studio and promptly feed this information straight back to the producers. On one particular occasion Nick Clegg – then Deputy Prime Minister – on his way to TV Centre asked his aide what were the three worst possible questions Paxman could ask him. Perhaps unsurprisingly, when the red light went on they ended up as questions 1,2 and 3.

So be very careful what you say on your way to the studio. You have no idea who might be listening and feeding straight back to the person who’s going to be firing the questions at you.

The 15th and final Scenario:

 “A high-profile journalist requests a long background briefing ahead of a feature they are writing.”

Is it worth a big chunk of your day? Here’s our 2 minute take…