These are emotionally charged times for talk radio. We are over a week from election day and there are still debates being had over who won the presidential race in certain states, the U.S. Senate is hinging on two runoffs in Georgia, and the House still has several seats up in the air, and it looks like Republicans will net seats.
This is the kind of scenario talk show hosts dream about. Every day it feels like the shows write themselves, kind of like a sports talk show host following his team to a World Series or Super Bowl.
With that being said, there is a hint of a circular firing squad going on right now within conservative circles. Was the election stolen? Was it “stolen enough” to flip states? Did Joe Biden just win and we all need to move on? Are you mad at FOX News for their Election Night coverage? Are you not?
All these conversations are happening within conservative circles and in many ways, depending on how you answer, it is dividing people.
As hosts, this can be frustrating, but fun. Heck, we are all supposed to be on the same page here, especially in an election cycle! But we’re not.
However, this can make for incredibly entertaining talk radio. And in the end, that’s my job, plus there is a moment here to take advantage of.
I’ve spent much of the week getting yelled at by all sides. “Pete, you’re not taking election fraud seriously enough!” “Pete, you’re nothing but a Trump lackey!”
Both things can’t be true! But, it’s made for a fun week and allowed every show to be unpredictable and entertaining. It’s brought moments of happiness, sadness, laughter and frustration.
However, as of right now there is no end in sight. But we can still do our best as hosts and stations to use this momentum to our advantage from how we host the show and handle the callers to how we image the station. On KCMO Talk Radio, we added new rejoins, liners and promos with our voice guy saying “Yell at Mundo… or compliment him… 576-7710 on KCMO”. We can use that as a rejoin or an imaging piece, or in a show promo with callers ranting and raving or complimenting in the same promo to have several voices and keep it moving forward.
Every talk show should want to curate callers who are going to disagree with your opinions as to avoid too much of an echo chamber. This can be tougher to do for a political show than a sports talk show. But in the wake of the most hectic election seasons in modern American history, we are now at a point where many who likely agree on policy and agenda are breaking from each other.
I believe a lot of this will settle down once the outcome of the Presidential election becomes official, but in the meantime, shows and stations can continue to capitalize with entertaining imaging, promos, show moments and callers, while riding the wave to hopefully a strong fall ratings book.
Pete Mundo is a weekly columnist for Barrett Media, and the morning show host and program director for KCMO in Kansas City. Previously, he was a fill-in host nationally on FOX News Radio and CBS Sports Radio, while anchoring for WFAN, WCBS News Radio 880, and Bloomberg Radio. Pete was also the sports and news director for Omni Media Group at K-1O1/Z-92 in Woodward, Oklahoma. He’s also the owner of the Big 12-focused digital media outlet Heartland College Sports. To interact, find him on Twitter @PeteMundo.
