By Pete Williams

I’ve dealt with hundreds of public relations people over the years, both as a journalist looking to land credentials/interviews and as an author seeking publicity. Some PR people are very good, some not so good. It’s a tough gig and a difficult one to do well.

Then there are those who have a sixth sense for matching stories/clients and media outlets.

In 1992, I had just started writing a column on sports memorabilia for USA Today Baseball Weekly. One morning, a publicist phoned and asked if I wanted to interview one of his clients, an up-and-coming comedian who had a collection of celebrity-signed baseballs.

The column was new, I needed material, and the comic would be in town the following week.

“Sure,” I said, “but…who is Jeff Foxworthy?”

I spent a memorable morning at a dive DC hotel coffee shop talking baseball with Foxworthy. His career soon took off, no doubt helped by the tireless efforts of a publicist who explored every last angle for promoting his client’s career.

The publicist’s name was Jeff Abraham. It’s not an unusual one, but I have a photographic memory when it comes to names. It’s probably from collecting baseball cards as a kid. If only I could monetize this talent.

Last week I received an e-mail from Forbes Riley, who is well known in the infomercial and Home Shopping world. She’s the creator of a new fitness gadget called “The Spin Gym” and wanted to know if she could appear on my radio show “The Fitness Buff.” We’re both in the Tampa Bay area, so this connection was not unusual. We exchanged some dates and times and hopefully our schedules will match soon.

Yesterday I received an e-mail from a Los Angeles publicist wanting to know if I’d be interested in having his new client (Forbes Riley) on the radio show. He had Googled fitness radio shows and stumbled upon my program, unaware that Forbes already had contacted me.

The publicist? Jeff Abraham.

It was the first time our paths had crossed in 18 years. The Fitness Buff Show is four years old and we’ve developed a nice little following. Still, we’re not exactly mainstream media.

Jeff and I caught up on the phone yesterday. He’s still representing comics; he worked with George Carlin for 11 years up until Carlin’s death.

If Jeff Abraham is tirelessly chasing down every possible promotional angle for Forbes Riley, well, let’s just say I wouldn’t be surprised if a few years from now she’s as famous as Jeff Foxworthy.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 16th, 2010 at 11:02 am and is filed under Sports Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.