At our 2023 BNM Summit last month, Erick Erickson was part of our Talking With Talent session, which included Chad Benson and Tony Katz and was hosted by BNM’s Andy Bloom. Following the first day of events, we talked at the BNM Summit Social about the idea of writing a guest column. Erick had a few ideas and opinions he was passionate about, and having been a believer in using our platforms to feature people who possess an ability to inform, entertain, and challenge media professionals, I was more than happy to publish the content if he was willing to write it.
Well, low and behold, he did. And it’s a fantastic piece. I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading it. If you are an accomplished personality, programmer, executive, advertising professional or owner of a group looking to utilize our platform to tackle a topic or issue, get in touch by email. I can be reached at Jason@BarrettNewsMedia.com.
But enough about me. Here’s a column that’ll make you think courtesy of nationally syndicated talk radio host, Erick Erickson. Enjoy!
— Jason Barrett, President and Founder of Barrett News Media
Over two years after Rush Limbaugh’s death, too much talk radio has descended into a bad impression of Rush. It has become iterative, repetitive, predicable, and boring. Listeners have little excuse to tune in every day because they know exactly the topics, the takes, and the voices of the interlopers competing for their attention with their friend, the host.
I fell into talk radio by accident. A morning show host on my local Cumulus talk station got arrested. I was a CNN political commentator and editor of RedState.com at the time. Ron Frazier, then the head of news for the station — WMAC in Macon, GA — called and asked if I might fill in for a day. One day became three days became three months. I got paid in an expired gift certificate to Outback Steakhouse. But I loved it.
Cox Media Group, thinking I was actually a radio guy, offered me Herman Cain’s job on WSB Radio in Atlanta. Hesitant to take the job, I reached out to my friend Rush Limbaugh who encouraged me to take it, largely by telling me he would never speak to me again if I did not take it. So I did. In less than a year I went from nights to evening drive time where I stayed until after Rush’s death. I now do Noon-3:00 PM on 95.5 WSB and syndicate the show with Compass Media. It is now the longest job I have ever had. 11 years later, and several years after Rush Limbaugh’s death, I have strong thoughts on the medium.
I, too, started by doing an impression of Rush Limbaugh. Thankfully, he freed me from the curse. In talking about my future and national radio, I confided in him that I never wanted to try it because I knew as long as he was around I had no shot at the top. He replied that it did not matter. Whether he were alive or dead, I would never be as good as him, so I should just be myself. It was meant in good humor, but the point was to stop trying to be someone else and just be myself. His second point was that I should stop worrying about saving the world and start trying to build a relationship with the audience.
Too much of talk radio is now too committed to merely rehashing the daily political fights. Hosts have forgotten radio is the most intimate medium. One’s ideas, passions, and expressions must be conveyed with the tone, rhythm, pacing, and sound of voice. There are no facial expressions. As a result, people grow closer to a radio host than a television host. They feel a level of connection that comes through voice.
That is the secret to radio. At a time when so many radio groups and outside voices think radio is over, the reality is a voice can keep people tuning in and connected the way a face on television might not, particularly by focusing on timely, breaking news that will no longer be relevant in a week old podcast. Sure, some may need a twenty-four-hour livestream or a podcast, but many will tune in daily to hear the voice they have become friends with.
That friendship, once built, can step away from the partisan talking points. Talk radio hosts who have not built a connection to their audience spend a lot of time in interviews. That puts the audience in the position of eavesdroppers, not friend. It drags an interloper into the conversation you are having with your friend in the car or office. Likewise, talkers who just regurgitate the standard topics fueling Washington D.C. become repetitive and predictable. They offer nothing the audience cannot get anywhere else. It becomes a boring retransmission of talking points instead of thoughtful, thought-provoking, and entertaining.
There are so many more topics out there than partisan rage. In just the past week, I have spent time with my audience on raising kids in the digital age and how I talk to my kids about using social media. I have talked about the media obsession with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. I have talked about the series of coups in Western Africa and how that will affect American stability. I have explained the problem with high bond yields. I have talked about how we are all going bankrupt $10 a subscription on streaming services replacing cable packages while not being able to find our favorite football games and baseball games to watch.
Life is complex. Talk radio that sounds like everyone else is too simplistic. It devalues the bond between the host and the listener, who eventually will go elsewhere to find something that sounds more unique and relatable. The secret to improving talk radio is to focus on building the relationship between the audience and the host by the host being a real person with a real life who brings the audience deeply into it. Any host who does that becomes both more unpredictable and more compelling, thereby becoming more listenable.
Erick Erickson hosts the Erick Erickson Show, available live or in delay nationwide from Compass Media. Be sure to visit his website or follow him on X at @EWErickson.
