So what if your only radio experience has been the time you were caller number seven for Z-100 concert tickets? Few of the commentators on National Public Radio's Morning Edition have prior broadcast experience either. Those poignant, thought-provoking stories are edited and reedited, the delivery coached by a Morning Edition staffer, and then cut-and-pasted by a producer to take out the bobbles and stumbles. Only then does the work reach the airwaves. What to pitch: What works is a unique situation or point of view, or a perspective that's so surprising and unexpected, you slow down the car to listen, or later mention to a friend, "I never thought of it that way before." To stress the point: Not all commentators are even journalists or full-time writers. In fact, less than half are. The rest have included academics, former presidential Cabinet members, recovering addicts, an airline maintenance worker, and a high school student. What matters most is simply that you have something fresh and original to say. What not to pitch: If a commentary starts out, "Didja ever wonder...?" it's always scrapped; there's one Jerry Seinfeld for a reason, as our news vice president likes to say. Social observations about minutiae won't make it on the air. Nor will stories about the cutest thing about your child, pet, or significant other ever did. If it screams "cute," we scream, "No." Find more information here.