We have hit the 60-day countdown to the “Most Important Election of our Lives!”
Too cliche? Of course. Every election is billed that way. But we are now in crunch time. Labor Day Weekend is in the rearview mirror; any remaining summer vacations are over, the kids are back in school, and people are looking for information and analysis on the upcoming Presidential election between Donald Trump, who everyone knows everything about, and Kamala Harris, who most people don’t know anything about.
That, in and of itself, makes this election cycle unique because one of the major candidates is a relative unknown to the American voting public.
As a News Talk Radio host, remember that there will be a new audience sampling your show, possibly for the first time, over the next two months. There will be topics and stories you’ve been covering for months, and while your P1’s will be fully aware of what you’re discussing, remember there will be a growing percentage of your audience that will need a reset on the topic.
Oh, and that’s another thing. Reset. Reset. And reset some more.
If you’re talking to a local candidate, don’t just reset their name every 3-4 minutes; reset what they’re running for and, if needed, what part of your listening audience that’s relevant to. “Bob Smith, running for Congress in District 3, which covers the Such-and-Such valley for those East of Highway 75.”
It takes all of 5 seconds, and it makes the audience much more engaged, rather than just hearing a candidate drone on, not knowing if this person is relevant to them in any meaningful way.
Now, as for the candidates themselves, never overdo it. There’s a fine line between being informational and being a car wash for candidates to get free air time and deliver their same old, tired talking points.
Be strategic in who you book and when you book them. And as always with most (not all) candidates, less is more. Most are inherently uninteresting. If you’re looking at candidates as just a chance to “kill 10 minutes” or “book a guest”, you’re doing it wrong.
They need to bring something of value to the audience, and then it’s your job to engage them and bring out the best in them as guests. In many ways, these can be your most challenging interviews, even though they are plentiful during the election season.
And never feel like you need to give them your entire segment. The mindset of, “I’ll keep this guest to the break” is confounding. Why? If they’ve said what you feel is informative, mildly entertaining and insightful, why go any further with the conversation?
If you start a conversation with someone in a restaurant or bar, and they start to bore you, do you keep it going? I don’t. I’m out. So why make our audience suffer because we have some radio clock in our heads or staring us in the face that, by the way, our audience doesn’t give a rip about? They just want to be informed and entertained.
But then, when you do get compelling candidates, highlight them. Run promos on your station with their sound bites. Promote your conversation with them digitally with podcast promotions, clips from the interview, and more. Make it all work and weave together.
These next 60 days are your opportunity to shine in your market and make an impact on radio in your community that may not come around for another couple of years. Embrace it, have fun with it, keep it moving, and, yes, reset.
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.
