Approaching elections is always a more serious time for News Talk Radio stations and shows. You’re interviewing candidates, talking to callers about their favorite candidates and ballot issues, and discussing what a future city, state, or country looks like under potential new leadership.
But despite the more severe time of News Talk, it doesn’t mean a show necessarily needs to lose its fun or edge. It’s an opportunity to try and find moments that stand out amongst the sometimes-mundane election coverage.
This week presented an interesting opportunity on KCMO Talk Radio: Valentina Gomez, a candidate for Missouri Secretary of State, became a viral sensation due to her vulgar social media posts calling her haters “weak and gay.” She had no chance to win the race but would get millions of views on social media.
Her campaign reached out to me last week, asking me to come on KCMO while threatening the station with “equal time” threats. While those were empty threats, I thought this could be a good opportunity to create a sensational segment with a candidate who would be entertaining, if nothing else.
To start the conversation, I asked her right away what a Secretary of State’s race has to do with being “weak and gay”? She called me fake news, brought up her FCC complaint, and avoided the question. I followed up on the question twice, with no answer, before eventually wrapping up the conversation.
The text line and phones exploded in a way they never do after a candidate interview. It would turn into our most downloaded podcast of the summer and one that had our social media pages buzzing.
My takeaway from this moment on the show is not to start interviewing every candidate who has ever declared for any race but rather to find the gems who will give you show moments. If someone is wildly controversial, even if they have no chance to win, it’s worth seeing if there’s something on your show.
Sometimes those near the top of the polls are just not good on air. Without naming names, I’ve had to navigate that before as well. Campaign managers will try to bully their candidates onto shows by saying they’re polling first or second. Why should we care if they cause tune-out for your audience?
The show is what matters, not appeasing campaigns or candidates or trying to “do the right thing” by giving candidates equal time in a given race.
Something else I’ve done is fewer candidate interviews in general. Your die-hard audience might want more of it, but other than the serious P1’s, most people won’t care until the final two weeks of an election, if not the final week.
For most people, voting is like cramming for a final exam; they’re focused days before they go to the polls and realize they need to go vote.
It’s important to realize where your audience is and what’s going on in their lives. And don’t forget, they look to you as well for your insight and opinions. Most of them aren’t that entertaining or interesting. You are. Don’t farm it all out to the candidates who are not expert communicators on air. That’s your job.
Using clips of the candidates from TV and social media, building a topic and opinion around that, may very well be more informative and entertaining than simply giving 5-10 minutes of your airtime to a campaign pitch.
So, with primaries around the country in the rearview mirror but the general election coming up in November, and several local races likely in your market, use your best judgment. In the end, all that matters is doing right by your audience, which will then reward your station with ratings and engagement.
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.
