He’s one of the busiest men in radio, with multiple shows across the different platforms. After 30+ years in the business, Ben Ferguson thinks he has more passion and is just now getting good at this craft.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever had this much fun doing radio as I am right now, because I feel like there’s this moment happening where I’m getting to do what I want to do and it’s reaching a lot of people,” Ferguson says.
The 43-year-old, who hosts The Ben Ferguson Show in afternoons at 600 WREC in Memphis, is not asking the usual round-robin questions of everyday hosts. Ferguson’s goal is first and foremost to make good content. “I learned several years ago, I don’t listen to other shows, because it’s really hard not to just like take something like that, and in essence copy it.” Instead, he tries to “humanize guests now and talk about things that are a little different than what they get in that sound bite moment and then translate that for the audience.”
It’s this style that was brought to his most recent interview with Elon Musk. “I was trying to think: What is a question that I would want to hear the answer to? So I asked, ‘Why hasn’t Elon Musk gone to outer space?’ [Musk] wants to colonize Mars, does that mean you’re going to go to Mars? When are you going to become an astronaut? No one has asked him that which is amazing.”
“[Musk is] throwing rockets up there every day. He’s launched more rockets than any government or person in the history of the world. At some point I’m like, ‘Don’t you want to jump on one of those and be an astronaut? His answer was hysterical. He said, ‘I might like to die on Mars, just not at impact.’”
Musk isn’t the only big name in the new administration Ferguson’s being given access to. The record-setting host believes this might be the most accessible administration for the media since his time working for the Bush Administration. “In 2016, there was not as good of access. At the end, it got a lot better, and that was really fun. I think they understood that conservative media, radio shows, and podcasts could be very powerful, and they figured it out in the last year or so.”
Ben Ferguson added, “Now, this team that’s running the comms team at this White House they understand. You can see them pushing legacy media out and bringing in new media and conservatives.”
With so much content more available to the media, in January, Ben Ferguson added a new podcast, The 47 Morning Update.
“I felt like there was a need for a short-form podcast for people that have a short commute, or have a lot going on, or maybe don’t want to listen to 30 to 45 minutes of political talk but want to be engaged and know what’s going on. [This podcast gives] them an update every day that is the three biggest stories specifically coming out of the White House.”
The best example he could give of his target audience is a personal one. “My wife’s a great example [of this demographic]. She does not listen to my show every day. But she does listen to The 47 almost every day.” As for how he feels about his wife not listening to his show, Ferguson said, “I love that she is not really that political. I’d say on a scale of 1 to 10. She’s a 2 and that’s probably why we work so well. She’s a mom first and loves hanging out. She does not like politics at all.”
Regardless of where listeners may fall on the political spectrum, Ferguson wants to make clear, that he is not one of those conservatives trying to further divide the country. “My goal is not to go to war every day with and divide the country. My goal is to change hearts and minds, so I try to give people a conversation. Instead of hanging up on a liberal caller, I will talk to you in a respectful manner instead of belittling.”
This change of pace is different than in his early career.
“I think there was some of that shock jock radio that was kind of fun. (Mark) Levin’s great line is, ‘Get off my phone you, dope.’”
Today, Ben Ferguson turns his focus on having more grand conversations with everyone. “I want to change your mind, and if I’m just attacking you, you’re not going to listen to me. I think my show has changed a little bit where I will ask questions more than I will go after somebody if they’re a lefty, because I want to try to get them to the point where they’re like, ‘Ok, yeah. This really doesn’t make sense. I now see your perspective and we can still maybe agree to disagree.”
He’s not just bringing this style to his radio shows but podcasting, too. “I was reluctant to get in the podcast space years ago because I was like, ‘Why would I put myself out of business? I’m a radio guy,’ and I was wrong.”
Ben Ferguson believes podcasting and radio complement each other well and he encourages people to embrace both. “Do both because there’s a certain audience you just get a lot more of in one area and a certain audience you get in the other, and both can complement each other, instead of competing.”
Ferguson is almost always working on one of his four shows or commentating on TV outlets. In order to get it all done, the radio and podcast host is extraordinarily grateful for his home studio. His podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, often tapes late at night and into the early morning.
“One night we were doing the show, and I was like, ‘Hey, we both don’t sound good. We need to start this over. Let’s wake up. We got to bring the fire,'” Ferguson reminisced. “And he laughed. We started over.”
He even feels most, if not all shows, from home are actually better. “You can just tell there’s a different level of relaxation. You can tell there’s family that they probably just saw 30 seconds earlier. I’m a better host because I do the show from home. I have no doubt I’m better at it.”
The author of the top-rated book, “It’s My America, Too,” noted of his career path. “I think when you start in radio, when you’re 12 and you’re career goal is, ‘I want to be the like the next Rush Limbaugh,’ when you’re 12, that’s not an arrogant thing. You’re dreaming like that was your dream.”
While at certain points in time, this dream caused some undue pressure from outside sources, today Ben Ferguson is living the dream.
“It’s interesting to see now, being 43, having three boys [to see people inadvertently put pressure on kids]. One of my sons is really good at golf and so they’re like ‘Dude he’s going to be the next…’ I was like, ‘Please don’t say that. Like, whatever you do, don’t. That’s way too much pressure.’ So now I’m proud of what I get to do. I love what I get to do, and I’m very content in my career. If this is it, I feel good about what I did and that’s a weird place, but also a really free, fun place.”
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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.
