When weighing the pros and cons of doing remote broadcasts, I know many hosts don’t see any positives and can’t stand them. It gets us out of our comfy confines in the studio, it breaks up routines, and it can be a bit clunky at times with guests and callers, plus the sound quality will not be quite as good as the studio. It can also help land breaking news.
But when it comes to local talk radio being at its best, there’s very little downside that can come from being “in” your community with your broadcast, if properly planned and targeted. Doing shows on street corners for the sake of it is worthless, but if executed with a purpose, it can have enormous positives.
When thinking “remote”, many may think of the potential face-to-face contact with those loyal listeners in the zip code of your choice. But that’s just gravy. Remotes aren’t about the listeners on-site in 2023. It’s about the listener who isn’t going to show up, but is going to appreciate you being in their backyard. And then, more importantly, bringing that same listener can’t-miss content that they can’t get from any other medium.
And the more of this a station chooses to do, the more likely you step into a situation I happened to find myself in this past week. I’ve written about our “Back the Blue” Tour we launched this year on KCMO. I take my morning show to area police departments for a Friday morning broadcast every 6-8 weeks and we spend a portion of the program talking with the police chief, and various leaders within the police department. Our goal is to highlight the great work these leaders are doing for their community, most of which does not get nearly enough attention in today’s media landscape.
Prior to our “Back the Blue” Tour stop this past Friday, I received a text from the police chief in Gladstone, Missouri at 4:00 a.m. that we would have to move some guests around since there was an officer-involved shooting earlier in the morning that resulted in the death of the suspect.
Suddenly, our feel-good, rah-rah “Back the Blue” show turned into a breaking news story. The community of Gladstone had not had an officer-involved shooting since 2016, and here we were scheduled to be on-site with our show that morning for a four-hour broadcast.
We had to cancel a couple of guests since they were on the scene of the shooting doing their job. However, we were still able to promote various folks within the department who we had planned, but each one came prepared with an update on the shooting, per the chief’s request. Speaking of the chief, he joined us three times throughout the broadcast with various updates on the shooting.
So while the rest of the Kansas City media was waiting patiently on a street corner for an official update from a media spokesperson, we were interacting directly with the police chief on an hourly basis for updates the rest of the city’s media could not get.
Yes, there’s obviously luck involved in how this story unfolded and fell into our lap, however, I’ve always been a believer in creating luck, to some degree. By trying to find unique and creative angles to get more involved in the community, we were able to luck our way into being at the center of a breaking news story that was the top story in the region for that day, and into the weekend.
How can you create your own luck?
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.
