While it is recognized that instruction between co-workers is a central component of everydayworkplace interaction and learning, this study investigates the ways in which such instructionalevents are practically initiated in interaction. We analyse recordings of everyday work at a radiostation, where journalists prepare and broadcast local news. In our data, a distinction can bemade between two interactional contexts from which instructional interactions emerge: searches,where one party is looking for a suitable helper; and established interactions, where the initiation ofinstruction is prefigured by immediate prior interaction. A further finding is that these twocontexts are associated with two different ways of initiating instruction. Direct requests areused in established interactions. In searches, we instead find questions regarding the otherperson’s procedural knowledge – what we term know-how questions. We finally discuss theways in which instructional configurations are assembled without reference to institutionallydefined instructor/instructed roles.