It’s June 2023, and it is actually political season. The 2024 campaign season is underway. I don’t like being a political or campaign insider. I don’t endorse. I also realize that there is a lot going on. I’ll give you my playbook.
Don’t Interview Candidates Until 2024
Congressional, gubernatorial, and senate candidates are already hitting me up for interviews. I tell them no. There are a couple of actual reasons.
The candidates do not actually officially file for office until 2024. People who have announced may not file. Don’t waste your precious airtime with “potential” candidates.
Here is a mistake that I made 2 years ago. An open congressional seat, I received a call from a staffer for the sitting congresswoman. He was going to be in town with a state representative that was running for the seat. The person calling me was a contact and a good guy, so I said sure. The state rep came on and we did the interview. It was only 9 minutes, but she didn’t file to run. Decided not to run for the position. It was a waste of my time and worse, it was a waste of my audience’s time.
I learned that lesson and am holding back until 2024. Now, if I get the opportunity to interview Trump, DeSantis, or someone of that stature, I will do it. But that is a different ball of wax.
Never Ever Endorse
It is an insult to your audience and can hurt your station’s bottom line. A really good talk show host friend of mine — I won’t share his name to protect his reputation — hated the sitting Republican Senator for his state. So, he spent hours a day on his show promoting the sitting Senator’s primary opponent. He insulted the sitting Republican Senator constantly. Primary election day came, and the incumbent won by 40 points.
So, the host showed that no one pays attention to him, and he is a blowhard. Endorsing insults your audience. Your audience will make the decision. The host is not the leader, he/she should be reflecting their concerns and feelings. So, about my buddy who will remain nameless, his station group lost all advertising buys for the general election from that incumbent U.S. Senator. 6 years earlier, that same Senator spent nearly $100,000 on the station group. This friend of mine almost lost his job over this.
Never, ever, endorse in a primary. I generally sit out discussing a challenger to an incumbent in the primary. I may ask for a debate before the primary, but only if the upstart candidate seems to be getting traction.
In my community, a state senator was defeated in the primary by the upstart candidate. This was the first time that a sitting state senator lost a party primary in Missouri in decades. I kept out of the race. I knew and liked both. Staying out of it didn’t hurt me one bit and didn’t create hard feelings for either campaign.
Don’t Get Caught Up in Campaign Happenings
It is so easy to get into the back-and-forth of the campaigns. If you think that your audience cares about this, you are mistaken. There is a certain vocal subset of your listeners that love this. I suggest that it is a very small minority of your audience. If you have shown up to a political event with all the candidates attending, a few hundred people seems like a lot, but they are and should be a minority of your audience.
I was driving through a city listening to primary night coverage a few years back. The coverage became totally insane. I listened to the afternoon host on that station discussing TV ads for the general election for 15 minutes. Hey, dummy, your station does not profit from TV ads.
I have worked election nights and you need to fill time. This was stupid. Keep giving results and your analysis.
Your Audience Has a Life. Honor That.
Talk about the things that are in their sphere. Kids, marriage, family, job security, and fun topics are in order. The biggest stories of the day are usually not the ins and outs of a campaign. Just because a political viewpoint is at the center of your audience’s commonalities does not mean that should be the center of the conversation.
Did you and the significant other have a disagreement? Do the kids have enough stuff to do during the summer? When is the right age to let kids go out on their own for the day? Rising costs for everything in our lives. What are you cutting from the budget?
These topics respect your audience. The basic principles of politics transcend these. When you are focused on the election of 2024 in the summer of 2023, you are in serious jeopardy of creating the need to listen to something other than you. 2024 will be here soon enough. The biggest issues of 2024 will likely change depending on numerous factors.
How to Tell the Political Campaign No
Here is how I do it: Would love to have you on the show to discuss your candidacy for Governor. It is too early. When the candidate says that they have been on another station, tell them that your focus is on your listeners and it is too early.
This is your show. Don’t get caught up in the campaign before your audience is actually really interested. In a coming article, we will break down your target listener. Here is my piece of unsolicited advice: if you are discussing the realities of your audience’s concerns and hopes, you win. Never take your audience for granted.
Peter Thiele is a weekly news/talk radio columnist for Barrett Media, and an experienced news/talk radio programmer. He recently served as program director for WHO/KXNO in Des Moines, IA. Prior to that role he held programming positions in New York City, San Francisco, Little Rock, Greenville, Hunstville, and Joplin. Peter has also worked as a host, account executive and producer in Minneapolis, and San Antonio. He can be found on Twitter at @PeterThiele.
