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Bold, outspoken, and confident in her beliefs, radio host Dana Loesch is known for her strong stances on guns, patriotism, plus fighting for free speech and the American dream. “I have a lot of fun doing [my show], I think you have to love it,” Loesch said. “It’s like doing homework every single day that I really enjoy. The people who I watch and interact with every single day, it is a lot of fun because it’s like you have friends that you hang out with every single day, even if you can’t see them all. There is something magical about it and it makes it a lot of fun.”
But the No. 1 female conservative radio host in the country almost didn’t become the superstar we know today. “I had a newspaper column at the St Louis Post-Dispatch for a while and I ended up doing a couple of hits on our affiliate [radio] morning show [and] they had asked if I wanted to do a radio show,” she said. “I thought they were crazy because I didn’t study broadcasting. It looked way too hard. I said no for months, at least 4 or 5 months. Then my husband was like, ‘Why don’t you just try it? Just try it for a couple of weeks, see if you like it.’”
Initially, Loesch did not love the gig. “I tried it, and I hated it,” she said. “I scripted my very first show and it was horrible. It was probably the worst thing that’s ever been on American airwaves ever.”
But like anything, with time, practice, and a whole lot of hard work she learned to love it. Loesch said, “As [the show] grew and it went from Sunday evenings to weekday evenings and then middays and the audience grew, I mean, you could feel the energy of the people who were listening to you as you were talking and hanging out with them. And there’s something nice about that.”
Grateful for the experience, she now has one of the top programs on Radio America and on stations across the country. “I had to kind of go through that process to really enjoy and appreciate broadcasting,” she said. “Then I started having a lot of fun with it and I discovered the theater of the mind with it. After a while, I realized, when you’re live you kind of feel the energy of people who are listening.”
Calling the experience, “baptism by fire” Loesch is especially grateful for those who helped her in those early days. “There were a lot of really good people that were encouraging me along the way,” she said.
Today, her support team includes Radio America who help produce her award-winning radio program, The Dana Show. “They help put [my show] out and one of my producers, Steve, is based out there in DC. He works with Radio America and they’re a funny crew. We usually see each other a few times a year. But they do a good job of getting [the show] out there.”
However, it’s not always easy getting her show out as she is often suppressed by certain social media companies. “Republicans, conservatives, libertarians really dominated social media to the point where the left had to have these little confabs like Netroots, where they had to come together once a year to figure out how they are going to push back against how good the right does everything online. The right was outraising [the left] online.”
Loesch added, “So [big tech] decided, well, if we mess with the algorithms, then it doesn’t matter. If we mess with the algorithms and suppress their reach, then it doesn’t matter and that’s what they started doing.”
All the suppression might not change what the former NRA spokesperson talks about on her show, but it does sometimes change what she posts online. “They always say [radio] is like the original social media. But radio has a very different audience from digital and a very different acting audience from digital, and they’re very active in different ways. And so, it’s a little bit harder to try to keep all the pieces together when there’s all those suppressive techniques that are in play. It’s really frustrating. It’s almost like if you compartmentalize your stuff in your advocacy.”
The former editor of The Blaze noted her radio audience is younger than average but, “They are a little bit more reserved in their activism and advocacy and they have busy schedules.” She noted digitally her followers are more active because, “You’re on social media and you’re scrolling, you’re all a little bit more active than if you’re just passively listening.”
Even topics vary between the two platforms. “For instance, if I talk about Social Security, that definitely plays, I can enrage people on radio over Social Security way faster than I can digitally,” Loesch said. “It’s interesting, I’ve noticed that stories particularly with school boards catches fire a little bit more digitally than radio wise. It’s not scientific, I go by feedback and what I hear.”
For those looking to follow in her footsteps, Loesch said, “They need to make sure they have the courage of their convictions and hold in their position and not be swayed by public sentiment, because especially in an era of populism, it can be very easy to do so. I always tell people that populism is a tactic and not necessarily a set of beliefs. And consistency is so incredibly important. Consistency is currency, especially with your audience. And audiences can see it and they’ll forgive mistakes if you’re honest about it. But what they won’t forgive is inconsistency for the sake of likes or clicks.”
Additionally, Loesch said it is equally as important to respect the audience and be honest. “Sometimes when I’m wrong, which is rare, but when I’m wrong, I’ll say, ‘Yeah, that’s incorrect.’ I think it’s more important to search out what is true and what is right, because what is the point of this whole grand experiment if it’s not [truth], if we’re not trying to figure out what works and discard what doesn’t, then what is the purpose? Then it’s a vanity exercise and then it’s all for nothing.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
