I’m already tired.
No, not because I’m a morning show host who’s about to wrap up the week. I’m tired because it’s only March of 2023 and half of what I see on Twitter is Trump vs. DeSantis trolls going after each other.
Make. It. Stop.
OK, I can’t do that.
Although I guess I could stop following certain people on the platform, but that’s an option for another day.
But as it pertains to talk radio, before thinking this is a great Topic A or B for a show, let’s actually dissect whether or not this makes any sense to discuss at length.
First off, conservatives are usually the ones more likely to rightly point out that Twitter, and the rest of social media, is not real life. But for too many on Twitter, and elsewhere, they aren’t taking their own advice on this issue. It’s wildly hypocritical.
Granted, some of them are employed by either side, but most are not, and it’s exhausting to open up a social media app and see this back and forth with still one year to go until most primaries take place.
However, more importantly, as it pertains to local talk radio, there’s very little value in bringing any of this to your talk show in March of 2023. Walk around your community, do you really think the water cooler conversations are about Donald Trump vs. Ron DeSantis? I would guess that’s highly unlikely unless you work at the RNC or you’re a landscaper at Mar-A-Lago.
I could scan local TV stations, newspaper websites and blogs and find more compelling stories with a more immediate and local impact in less than five minutes. It might be more work from a topic development standpoint, but it’s doing the service that your audience expects of you as a local host. Plus, who wants to spend the next 12 months debating this nonsense?
Count me out.
That day will come as the 2024 election draws near, the storylines build and it becomes of more interest to the audience. But this week we just hit the first day of spring… in 2023!
On top of that, this topic is very likely to divide much of your audience earlier than you need to. What’s the benefit of that? Once again, that day may come, although who really knows what the next several months could bring?
If there’s anything we should know living through and covering the last few years of news, it’s to expect the unexpected. What we think will happen 12 months from now is almost guaranteed to not actually be the case.
So let’s go down the three-point check-list here:
- It’s not local or incredibly topical for most people right now
- It’s an audience divider
- The landscape isn’t guaranteed to look the same in 12 months
In this case, we can check off all three of those items with confidence.
So while national politics will likely always be blended into a multi-hour show, when appropriate, there’s absolutely no point in doing deep dives or taking multiple segments of callers on this topic at this point and time. It’s going to be a tune-out for most.
Plus, spare yourself the pain this early. And trust me, it will be painful when the time comes. At some point, you’ll be longing for the simpler days of March 2023.
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.
