The Midwest was slammed by a winter storm over the weekend, with snow and ice being dumped all over the region. Total Information A.M. on KMOX went into overdrive to cover the storm on Monday morning.
St. Louis was in the band that was most affected by the winter weather and with KMOX morning show being selected as the 10th best morning show in the mid-market rankings in the latest Barrett Media Top 20 released on Monday, I thought why not check out the program on the legendary station.
The show — which airs from 6-11 AM on the Audacy St. Louis station — is helmed by Tom Ackerman, Debbie Monterrey, and Megan Lynch.
For this edition of The Interview, we’re focusing on Lynch’s interview with AccuWeather meteorologist Heather Zehr after the winter weather hampered much of the region over the weekend.
First and foremost, the interview was short. The discussion between the Total Information A.M. host and the forecaster was just under five minutes long. Which, in an environment like morning drive, especially on a news/talk station like KMOX, is the perfect length. Short. Sweet. And to the point. Especially after the area received between 6-12 inches of precipitation.
In fact, the first question from Lynch was “What were our totals?”, after pointing out that the accumulation included both ice and snow in the city.
After a succinct answer from Zehr, Megan Lynch followed up with another short question: “What storm system came in that led to all of this?”
So, right off the bat, Lynch got answers for her listeners. Contextualizing the event, finding out the reason for just how the region underwent such a drastic winter weather event.
When the meteorologist explained how so much snow and ice hit the area, Lynch fell into two of the seven deadly interview sins at once: she didn’t ask a question, and she prolonged it by remarking on the topic instead of finding a query for the subject
“Talk to us about what we can expect for the week,” Lynch said. “I know when we talked with the Missouri Department of Transportation, they told us it’s gonna take us a few days to clear all of this away.”
In the past, I’ve given a bit of a pass to interviewers who don’t ask a question but instead remark as a way for their interview subject to open up a bit. However, in this case, I think it’s important to point out that the subject isn’t a closed-off politician or public figure attempting to conceal information or hide their true feelings about a topic. The subject is a weather forecaster. So the “talk to us about” is one of those things that can grind my gears just a bit during an interview because it’s as simple as it gets. There’s no question. No real thought about to how to get information from the subject other than just beating them over the head with it.
On the next opportunity to ask a question, Lynch did the same thing. “Talk about the winds that we’re expected to have. I know that was another warning we got overnight that even if the crews got the snow cleared off … what could we be seeing in the way of snow blowing back across the roads? Because it doesn’t seem like a very wet snow,” she said.
Believe me when I tell you — that whether it be radio hosts, TV anchors, sports sideline reporters, or anyone in between — the Total Information A.M. host isn’t the only interviewer who falls into what I like to call the “Talk About Trap.”
“Talk about” isn’t a question. It’s a command. And while you’d like to have command over the conversation, you don’t want to be commanding over your interview subject.
That trap continued when the conversation shifted to an explanation about the difference between temperature, “Real Feel” temperature, and wind chill. Lynch started the question with “Talk to us about,” instead of asking a short, one-sentence question like she did to begin the interview.
I understand how it’s easy to fall into the “Talk About Trap”, especially in this situation where the intent is to get important — in some cases life-saving — information to the public. And when you’re focused on getting that information to the audience, you can lose sight of what’s the best way to get your interview subject to give that information. It’s the simplest way to get the subject to share what you want them to share.
I liken it to being a sports television play-by-play announcer. One of your jobs is to set up the color commentator to be the star. And that’s how I viewed a conversation such as this one. The host is attempting to set up the guest to be the expert, the voice of reason, and a credible source of important information for a wide listening audience. So it’s easy to lose sight of what makes a good to great interview when that’s the intent.
However, that’s really the only thing I could critique about the discussion as a whole. Total Information A.M. didn’t keep the AccuWeather meteorologist on to attempt to eat up more time, showcase her personality, or any other reason to keep a guest on longer than they need to be.
They got her in, got her out, and got their audience valuable information about what happened, what’s to come, what to expect going forward, and context on how and why it happened. Which, in the fast-paced world we expect out of our morning drive news/talk radio shows, it was a job well done by Total Information A.M.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
