Every four years, most news/talk radio hosts look at early March and think to themselves, “We’ll be coasting.”
That’s because Tuesday, March 6th is what’s known as “Super Tuesday.” It’s the biggest day of the primary schedule with 16 states voting for who they want to be the next President of the United States. The contest will unfold from Alaska and California to Virginia and Vermont.
Every four years, at least for one political party, but sometimes for both if a President is in his second term, it means Americans get a much clearer picture as to who is likely to be their Presidential nominee.
But that won’t be the case this year. There’s zero juice around Super Tuesday. Joe Biden is running for re-election (for now) as the leader of the Democratic Party, while Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee for the Republican Party.
So while Super Tuesday is traditionally a day to zero in on as a talk show host, it won’t be this year. And forcing it, just because it’s Super Tuesday, would be a mistake as a host or a producer.
There may be interesting off-shoot angles to turn into talk topics: While Trump will win, how does he perform vs. Nikki Haley in the suburbs? How does Donald Trump perform with college graduates, who have preferred Nikki Haley in prior states, coming up on Tuesday? What do those results mean for November?
On the other side, do Democratic primary voters go to the polls to vote for a long-shot primary candidate to send a message for an “anti-Biden” vote? Earlier this week, “uncommitted” received 13% of the vote in Michigan’s Democratic primary.
There will be topics to creatively build off of Super Tuesday’s results, however it will not be your typical ones where hosts analyze the winners and losers. That’s because we already know who the winners and losers will be. It’s a done deal.
If your state is a Super Tuesday state, there will likely be far more interesting races and angles to look at down the ballot. California has a U.S. Senate primary, Texans will grapple with another challenge to GOP attorney general Ken Paxton, North Carolina has a Governor’s race, and dozens of other races I am unfamiliar with, but hosts in their cities and states are well aware of.
This will be a chance to focus on those and show your local chops while explaining to your audience why these races oftentimes matter even more than who is in the White House. There will be casual listeners stopping by for the headlines on Super Tuesday, but if you can catch them and get them to care about the realities of their community in a way they have not previously considered, you can win them over. You can catch that extra occasion over sports radio or another spin of Led Zeppelin, Taylor Swift or Madonna.
Think of Wednesday morning as your next best chance to make a great first impression on new potential listeners. It’s like a first date or a first job interview. Put your best foot forward, impress your radio audience, and give them an angle that matters to them, and you might just win them over for the foreseeable future. Good 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.
