In the 90's I used to listen to Ian Masters' radio show Background Briefing which was a very pointy-headed, left-leaning examination of various issues.
At the time it was just a show run by a very competent host out of a public radio station in LA (KPFK - not an NPR affiliate). I think it has expanded since then.
Several times Ian said he was surprised to usually get a "yes" when he asked some relatively high-profile journalist, think-tanker, or university professor to be interviewed on his show. (Typical interview was 15-20 minutes of airtime - not just a sound bite.)
Basically, these folks seem to be surprisingly willing to chat when cold-called by an interested person.
In 2015, I found the phone number to radio host Jesse Lee Peterson's office, and around the same time had seen a clip of him saying that the "biggest mistake America ever made was allowing women to vote". I called the number to leave a message that I thought he was an "ignorant, sexist moron". [1]
The intern that answered the phone said "do you want to tell him yourself?", to which I quickly said "yes".
Jesse answered the phone, and I said "hey, Jesse Lee Peterson, I think you're an ignorant moron".
He replied back with "do you want to say this on the show tomorrow?" to which I said "absolutely". A producer reached out to me via email, and the next day I spoke to him on the radio for about 20 minutes. I doubt I convinced him or any of his listeners of anything, but at least I got to say my piece, for a lot longer than I thought I was going to.
While I still think he's an ignorant and sexist moron whose opinions have only gotten more radical and scary, I guess I'll give him a little credit for being a bit open to alternate arguments.
[1] Even if you disagree, don't try and convince me otherwise here, because you will not convince me otherwise in this case. If you don't know who he is, I advise that you don't Google him if you don't want to get depressed.
At the time it was just a show run by a very competent host out of a public radio station in LA (KPFK - not an NPR affiliate). I think it has expanded since then.
Several times Ian said he was surprised to usually get a "yes" when he asked some relatively high-profile journalist, think-tanker, or university professor to be interviewed on his show. (Typical interview was 15-20 minutes of airtime - not just a sound bite.)
Basically, these folks seem to be surprisingly willing to chat when cold-called by an interested person.