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More than 35 million people watched the much-anticipated interview with Donald Trump on The Joe Rogan Experience. And the reaction to the episode has been all over the place.
Some have argued it was a borderline sycophantic conversation, others have said it’s one of the greatest pieces of interviewing they’ve ever seen, and others questioned if Rogan would feature the same discussion with Kamala Harris.
And for some, the popularity of the show and the high-profile discussion have led to questions about whether this is the turning point in the radio vs podcasts battle.
To be frank, I don’t think that’s the case.
Have both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris fully embraced podcasts in their campaign strategies in the final weeks of the election? Absolutely.
But they also have embraced radio. Kamala Harris did a town hall hosted by Charlamagne Tha God for iHeartRadio. Donald Trump has been on countless news/talk radio shows, both local and national, in recent weeks.
The reason the conversation between Donald Trump and Joe Rogan was so anticipated isn’t simply because The Joe Rogan Experience is the most popular podcast on the planet. Does that play a part? Sure. But the reason so many people tuned into the conversation was for one reason: scarcity.
Donald Trump had never been on the podcast. Truthfully, he might not ever be back on. Should he decide he didn’t like the experience or decide that the next time Rogan is critical of the Republican nominee means he isn’t loyal enough to reward with an interview, this conversation before the election could be the only time the two are in the same studio.
So, that scarcity drives a need to pay attention. To watch. To listen. Or however you consume the Spotify show.
On the other foot, last week Hugh Hewitt interviewed Trump on his nationally syndicated radio show with Salem Media Group. On social media, Hewitt noted he had interviewed the former President more than two dozen times. Or, in other words, the exact opposite of scarcity.
Is news/talk radio — like the rest of AM/FM radio — in competition with podcasts for ears? 100%. And the entire industry should operate that way.
But the things that make Joe Rogan interesting are the same qualities top news/talk radio hosts have. The difference is in the distribution platform. But that doesn’t mean that traditional AM/FM radio — or news/talk for that matter — are in danger of being swept away just because of a massive podcast audience for select shows, like The Joe Rogan Experience.
So, podcasts have the advantage on scarcity. Some shows, even insanely popular programs, only release episodes once per week. And some of them are only an hour or so in lenght. Meanwhile, news/talk radio hosts are doing as much as 25 hours per week in some cases of content, so scarcity is never going to be on your side.
But do you know what is on radio’s side? Urgency and immediacy. And that’s something podcasts are never really going to be able to replicate. So that’s something we need to highlight and reinforce to the audience. When you want instant reactions, analysis, updates, and breaking news, it’s something you can’t get with pre-recorded, on-demand audio.
So, no, I don’t think the conversation between Donald Trump and Joe Rogan represents a seismic shift in the media landscape. Is it something the industry needs to be cognizant of? Absolutely, but, despite the insistence that the legacy media is dead, and traditional forms of media are on the way out the door, millions of people still use AM/FM and news/talk radio every day. And I don’t think that’s changing anytime soon.
Things are different, yes. But gone the way of the dodo? Not even close.
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
