Scott Budman is the business & tech reporter for the San Francisco Bay Area NBC News affiliate. He also files stories for other NBC stations and is a regular tech contributor on radio stations including KLLC (“Sarah & Vinnie Morning Show”) and KGO radio. He looks for stories daily and reports on what’s going on in the tech world.
This interview was originally conducted and posted by Bianchi PR, our Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) partner in Detroit.
Without revealing any secrets, can you tell us what types of stories, trends or issues are on your radar now?
These days, the hot issues include AI, self-driving cars, the stock market, smartphones, apps, and anything to do with tech growth (i.e., hiring/firing, real estate prices, etc).
Tell us about your dream assignment.
My favorite stories have to do with cool things that have tech in the background. Example: Monterey Bay Aquarium (very cool and visual) feeds giant fish by computer. So, awesome pictures of giant fish, with tech in the background. Also, I love to travel – have done stories on Olympic tech, and the relationship between Silicon Valley and Bangalore, India.
Describe the craziest or most fun story you’ve written/produced.
Hard to narrow down. A good one was post 9/11… horrible time, but found a popular band (Cake) that refused to fly, but had a world tour to play. Yahoo contacted them and offered to stream a concert from HQ. We were the only ones there to film it, and the response was huge – people were so happy to hear music and see their favorite band after so much bad news.
What is your top pet peeve with PR people?
Well, PR people are necessary for my job, so I’m always grateful for the help. That said, pitching a story but not having anyone available to talk, or making someone available only late in the day shows a lack of understanding of how TV news works.
Tell us a little about yourself (family, interests, favorites, background, etc.)
Family is important; I’m a Bay Area native (born in East Oakland), super glad to be able to work here. I went to UCLA, played competitive tennis as a young person, and love to read, hike, do amateur astronomy, and watch movies.
Finish this sentence: People would be surprised to know that I… …realize even as a seasoned reporter, that social media is way more important to reaching our audiences than even TV. We need to get better at this, right away.
Interested in learning more about Scott? You can connect with him on Twitter @scottbudman.
Leave a comment below or tweet us @LandisComm to let us know what you think of this interview.
Scott, many thanks for contributing to our blog this week. And I agree with you: pitching a story when a spokesperson is unavailable is just plain bad manners. Keep up the good work! Cheers, David
Love your stories, Scott. Thanks for sharing insight about your upcoming segments and the role social media is playing in conjunction with broadcast.
Interesting point about how social media is becoming more important then TV – especially with cable cutting becoming more common. Thanks for the great blog!
I’m fascinated by AI and self-driving cars (self-anything) and always appreciate you covering these.
Thanks for the great post, Scott. I enjoyed working with you back in my tech PR days and I’m glad you’re continuing all the great work. BTW, I was also born in Oakland and grew up in the East Bay, so I can certainly relate with how special it is to still live and now work in the Bay Area.
Interesting that Scott says that social media is becoming more important to reach audiences than TV. I wonder what the next couple of years will bring with our tech advances.