Remember parents always said they don’t pick favorites? Then, when you become a parent, you realize it’s not true – just never admit to anything. It’s similar to radio guests. We’re supposed to enjoy them in equal measure. But we don’t.
After being in the interview game for a long time, I definitely have my favorites. Some, I can’t afford anymore, while others – despite their schedules and big-time careers – will always oblige for a few minutes to talk with me on the radio.
That made me curious: Why do it if you:
- Don’t have to
- Don’t get paid
- Don’t have time
I went to one of my all-time favorites for his perspective: Michael Coyne. Old-school Boston guy, but under-estimate him based on his accent at your own peril. This guy knows his &*%#!
From Donald Trump to Fotis Dulos, give him a day’s notice, and he kills it for 6-10 minutes. When Coyne isn’t wearing his super-guest cape, he’s the Dean of the Massachusetts School of Law.
I worked for several years in Boston television, and we used him quite a bit. He’s smart, thoughtful, and always prepared.
When I moved to Connecticut and from television to the radio, he was one of the people who always said yes – even though it was outside his school’s recruiting area – and always brought up things I had not previously considered.
Most recently, Coyne came on the show around the holidays to talk about some legal elements of the Trump trials. I sent him a text afterward, thanking him for the effort, insight, and early wake-up call.
He responded with something to the effect of, “I love radio.”
This made me pause for a second because we had never discussed the qualitative difference between radio and television, and to be honest, I never asked him why he always came on the show and did it with such professionalism and verve.
So, I asked him a few questions about it.
“I love that radio is vibrant and electric,” he said. “It has the time — and devotes appropriate time — to treat fast-breaking and major issues in a meaningful way.
“It makes you think about the issue more deeply as it is not dependent on a 30-second soundbite.”
Praise be!
Yes, he is an old-school guy who may or may not still have a few CDs and DVDs lying around the house. But he consumes through all sorts of channels — radio, computer, iPad, television — and from flipping through digital newspapers and scrolling X to listening to long-form podcasts, he’s not stuck in the 80s; he just likes to physically own some of his vintage content.
Coyne also insists young people, both in his classroom and in his home, should take notice.
“I often preach to them about preparation, preparation, and preparation,” Coyne said. “I tell them that regardless of (whether) I’m doing an oral argument or an interview, I review massive amounts of information that I then boil down to a couple of pages of talking points. I then decide which of those are the most central to success in persuading/informing.
“An interview, like an oral argument before a judge, is a chance to persuade the listener of the points you want to make. An interview also teaches students to listen to the question and respond to it. All lawyers can use better listening skills.”
Boston may have one of the more vibrant radio cultures in the country – music, news/talk and sports all seemingly still thrive in 2024 – and he notices that when a major story emerges, the most consumed stories he’s involved in are the ones that combine law and sports. Part of the reason is because, he says, the sports radio stations do a better job of cutting up the best soundbites and getting them out on social media, and yes, on television, too.
“Even though I do far more work on NBC 10 and NECN (news), it is the law/sports pieces that my students see on social that they talk about.”
His point is not that sports/law issues are necessarily more popular (they may be) but rather, the sports talk folks are better distributors.
Sure, he listens to podcasts and watches television, but Coyne is adamant that choice remains paramount, and radio remains a core part of that content menu.
“Free radio is vital to our access to information and the ability to communicate with each other. The variety of edu-tainment available is important to society,” said Coyne, who thinks I should add some sort of Barstool-esque food reviews or get an army of interns to embrace the social media formats I can’t stand (TikTok, Instagram). But in the end, he still likes the choices he has on the radio.
“Don’t like Glenn Beck or Brian Shactman? then move on up the dial.”
Don’t like me? Move up the dial from me? Never!
Brian Shactman is a weekly columnist for Barrett News Radio. In addition to writing for BNM, Brian can be heard weekday mornings in Hartford, CT on 1080 WTIC hosting the popular morning program ‘Brian & Company’. During his career, Brian has worked for ESPN, CNBC, MSNBC, and local TV channels in Connecticut and Massachusetts. You can find him on Twitter @bshactman.
