Don’t try to convince me you don’t need a break. You do. I do. We all do.
And by a break, I don’t mean a vacation. I mean the occasional break from what we do every day for a living in News Talk. Don’t get me wrong. We love it. We love talking about the most important issues happening locally, nationally, and around the world that impact our lives every single day.
But, the topics can be heavy and serious, and even when we try to lighten them up to the best of our abilities, they are what they are.
So when there is an obvious opportunity to take that break, why not take it?
Last week, I wrote about how the Will Smith-Chris Rock slap was a welcomed topic for all of talk radio. It was different. But it was also a nationally trending topic that wasn’t unique to a market.
But this week, there was another opportunity for that break: Opening Day.
Now before you think, wait, sports? Think again.
Opening Day for the Major League Baseball season is never simply a sports story. If you think it is, you miss what Opening Day is all about. It’s the unofficial start of spring. It’s nostalgia. It’s hope. It’s optimism.
Opening Day of the MLB season makes everyone feel like a kid again. It has the ability to do that in a way no other “first day” of a sports season can accomplish.
As the program director and morning host at KCMO Talk Radio in Kansas City, I made the call to host our show from Kauffman Stadium on Opening Day this week.
First off, it wasn’t your normal Opening Day. It was the first “normal” Opening Day since 2019. The 2020 season was a wash due to COVID-19, and even last season began with a limited capacity crowd. It had been three years since any Kansas Citian could walk up and attend Opening Day at The K. That angle alone brings in a news angle that is worthy of our attention.
Then, the uniqueness of our situation in Kansas City is there have been many discussions and rumors surrounding the Royals wanting to move to a downtown baseball stadium. That’s even more of a news and politics story than a sports story.
And when the team owner promises you a sit-down interview from the stadium, jumping on that is a no-brainer.
Naturally, we get some P1 complaints that we aren’t talking about how much of a disaster Joe Biden is today. However, I have some not-so-breaking news: Joe Biden was a disaster yesterday. And he will still be a disaster tomorrow.
I know News Talk is scared to death of pushing away a P1, but the vocal minority are never as loud as they want to appear. Plus, my intentions were not to break down the roster or analyze the line up.
But when you have a chance to broaden your tent of listeners around the biggest thing happening in your market that day, show topical variety that’s incredibly local and timely in nature, while creating unique content that other sports and news stations in town won’t have access to, you do it.
That’s a programming principle that applies in its own way to each format. Don’t be scared off by the tunnel vision of what we’ve become accustomed to defining what “News Talk” is supposed to be.
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.
