Talk hosts: Assume that, every time you say “CONSERVATIVES” or “LIBERALS,” some listeners tune-out.
Nearly half of radio listening is now in-car. Picture busy soccermom or her guy-on-the-go dispassionately pushing dash-board buttons, giving each station a brutally brief audition. These two words are tantamount to “BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.”
Why: Unfortunately and deservedly, Talk radio has been typecast as being-about-politics.
Yes, it’s 2008, so, from-time-to-time, USA talkers will be less-than-relevant NOT-talking-politics.
But the election year din necessitates that hosts use and choose political topics MORE carefully.
“Owning” the 2008 Vote story does NOT mean all-politics-all-the-time.
Recommended litmus test for political topics: curb appeal and/or THAT-DAY top-of-mindness (ideally both).
We’re witnessing history, with a major party nominee likely to be either a woman or what-presidents-as-recent-as-LBJ called “a negro.” Handsome, uber-wealthy Mitt Romney waits-in-the-wings, with mercurial John McCain utterly capable of a sound bite as-fatal-as when Mitt’s dad scotched his own presidential bid by saying he’d been “BRAIN-WASHED” about Viet Nam. Speaking of big bucks, maverick Michael Bloomberg has already spent a pile, ascertaining how-and-when he can jump-in late. And anything in this paragraph can be moot by the time you read it.
So at any moment, The Big Story can pop, and just-plain-folks to-whom “CONSERVATIVES” and “LIBERALS” sound like droning Talk radio business-as-usual can come to radio to hear-all-about-it, and weigh-in.
In-between Big Stories, Big Names may be stumping in your area. Make callers the story, i.e., “IF YOU COULD SPEND 30 SECONDS ALONE WITH SENATOR OBAMA WHEN HE VISITS HERE TODAY, WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU WOULD ASK OR TELL HIM?”
Closer-to-home, there’s more to vote on. But whether the race is presidential, congressional, state, dog catcher, or referendum, the number of Average Quarter Hours of listening a host earns will be a consequence of his/her ability to distill and crystallize the-matter-at-hand, and work-in “YOU” and/or “YOUR” early and often. Relate to Homer and Marge Diarykeeper, avoid punditry.
Listeners are accustomed to hearing “CONSERVATIVES” and “LIBERALS” used to deride and divide. Meantime, a mountain of polling data demonstrates an unprecedented sentiment for a new president who will unite us.
HC
www.HollandCooke.com
Nearly half of radio listening is now in-car. Picture busy soccermom or her guy-on-the-go dispassionately pushing dash-board buttons, giving each station a brutally brief audition. These two words are tantamount to “BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.”
Why: Unfortunately and deservedly, Talk radio has been typecast as being-about-politics.
Yes, it’s 2008, so, from-time-to-time, USA talkers will be less-than-relevant NOT-talking-politics.
But the election year din necessitates that hosts use and choose political topics MORE carefully.
“Owning” the 2008 Vote story does NOT mean all-politics-all-the-time.
Recommended litmus test for political topics: curb appeal and/or THAT-DAY top-of-mindness (ideally both).
We’re witnessing history, with a major party nominee likely to be either a woman or what-presidents-as-recent-as-LBJ called “a negro.” Handsome, uber-wealthy Mitt Romney waits-in-the-wings, with mercurial John McCain utterly capable of a sound bite as-fatal-as when Mitt’s dad scotched his own presidential bid by saying he’d been “BRAIN-WASHED” about Viet Nam. Speaking of big bucks, maverick Michael Bloomberg has already spent a pile, ascertaining how-and-when he can jump-in late. And anything in this paragraph can be moot by the time you read it.
So at any moment, The Big Story can pop, and just-plain-folks to-whom “CONSERVATIVES” and “LIBERALS” sound like droning Talk radio business-as-usual can come to radio to hear-all-about-it, and weigh-in.
In-between Big Stories, Big Names may be stumping in your area. Make callers the story, i.e., “IF YOU COULD SPEND 30 SECONDS ALONE WITH SENATOR OBAMA WHEN HE VISITS HERE TODAY, WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU WOULD ASK OR TELL HIM?”
Closer-to-home, there’s more to vote on. But whether the race is presidential, congressional, state, dog catcher, or referendum, the number of Average Quarter Hours of listening a host earns will be a consequence of his/her ability to distill and crystallize the-matter-at-hand, and work-in “YOU” and/or “YOUR” early and often. Relate to Homer and Marge Diarykeeper, avoid punditry.
Listeners are accustomed to hearing “CONSERVATIVES” and “LIBERALS” used to deride and divide. Meantime, a mountain of polling data demonstrates an unprecedented sentiment for a new president who will unite us.
HC
www.HollandCooke.com