You have an opinion on what’s happening? Good for you. Turns out everyone has an opinion, and this time it’s going to be very hard to find anyone over the age of, say, 12 who doesn’t. That means that you — talk radio host — are not unique. Sure, you can and should talk about it, opine away, but when you do so, you’re doing what everyone else on and off the air is doing. No crime in that.
But you can also do what others may not be doing, and that’s focusing on what the tariffs and the DOGE chaos actually mean to listeners’ lives, or, more specifically, their bank accounts. If you watch cable news, there is no shortage of pundits and experts throwing out numbers for how much this is all going to cost the average family in America.
There is a shortage, however, of exactly how those numbers are calculated. Is it increased food costs? Does it assume every family will be buying a new car within the next year? From where are the numbers coming?
We’ve weathered recessions before, but this is more of a self-inflicted wound with aspects that few thought would actually happen, and the results are still being determined. That leaves your audience unsure of how much of a financial hit they’ll be taking, and very unsure of how to proceed. Most of them do not have financial advisors, but a lot of them have 401ks. Everyone is nervous about Social Security and Medicare.
What should they, and by “they” I mean “we,” do? Argue about the political elements all you want, but most people are sitting there in shock not sure if they should stand pat, cash in their savings and stuff it under the mattress, buy gold, sell their house, stay in a job they hate just for the insurance, retire, emigrate to another country, hoard eggs… what’s the next move?
Who knows? But the time for action is now, and most people don’t know what to do about it. That’s where you can come in. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t talk about the political issues and the protests and whatever’s headlining the news at that moment, but it does mean that you can take a few segments out of your show to go over what the latest developments mean for listeners’ wallets and suggest what they should be doing now to mitigate the damage somewhat.
You can do it in conjunction with reliable financial advisors or “do your own research” (ugh), but either way, if you give people practical, legitimate advice, you’ll probably be the only non-infomercial show on the dial at any given time doing so.
This isn’t your garden-variety financial crisis. This one is like an out-of-control steamroller careening through the country flattening everything in its path. Speaking as someone in the unfortunate age group just about at retirement/Medicare age who doesn’t know what he’ll do if Social Security and Medicare are eliminated or revised, and I’m surrounded by neighbors in the exact same position, we could all use some hand-holding and solid suggestions for navigating the crisis. If you tell me that host X on station Y is providing useful information on what to do, I’ll listen.
I don’t know if there is any help out there, to be perfectly honest, but if there is, now is the time to trot it out. I already have my opinions on what the administration is doing (you can probably guess). I don’t need talk show hosts telling me their opinions as much as I need some semblance of hope that this, too, shall pass.
Or I can just listen to sports radio and watch Beverly Hillbillies reruns. The economy may be a problem too big to ignore, but we can try.
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Perry Michael Simon is a weekly news media columnist for Barrett Media. He previously served as VP and Editor/News-Talk-Sports/Podcast for AllAccess.com. Prior to joining the industry trade publication, Perry spent years in radio working as a Program Director and Operations Manager for KLSX and KLYY in Los Angeles and New Jersey 101.5 in Trenton. He can be found on X (formerly Twitter) @PMSimon.
