The biggest thing that people are discussing is kind of our thing. Listeners depend on us to be focused on the biggest stories. Obviously, you are hosting a three to four-hour radio show every day. How much is too much?
There was the Terri Schiavo case. It dominated the news cycle 20 years ago. The case was this: The woman, Terri Schiavo, was in a persistent vegetative state for 15 years and her husband successfully sued to have her feeding tube removed. Terri Schiavo’s family fought her husband about starving Mrs. Schiavo. The husband won the case and his wife’s feeding tube was removed. There was no living will, and the husband sued to starve his wife. Yes, this really happened and it was the biggest story for over a month.
In the Terri Schiavo case, my morning show was totally focused on her starvation for seemingly months. The ratings book came out and the radio station took a major hit. All of my shows were on this story and you could feel radios being turned off. It was literally beating a dead horse. There was nothing that the audience could do. The conversation has zero ambiguities.
If you weren’t supporting Terri Schiavo’s life, you were in favor of court-ordered starvation. It was a really uncomfortable topic. It was the biggest story of the day. Sometimes there are these huge storylines that go on for days, weeks, or even months. If there is no conversation around the gray edges of the topic, what do you do? You sometimes need to walk away.
After the 2020 election, there was much weeping over Donald Trump’s loss. Due to COVID-19, there were no election observers in some locations like previous elections. The turnout of the election caused much concern over the actual legitimacy of the election. There were many news/talk radio hosts chasing down the conspiracy bus. There was a lot of unfair targeting of Dominion Voting Systems. I want to state right now: “Dominion Voting Systems provided a fair and just election platform.” (I just wanted to make sure that Barrett Media and yours truly don’t get sued.)
But from election day 2020 until Joe Biden’s inauguration, many news/talk radio hosts were focused on the legitimacy of the election. This was death to talk shows. There were supposed pictures that showed carted-in ballots. It was tedious and just a waste of time. Was the election irregular? Hell yes. Everything about 2020 was unusual. People were locked into their houses for days at a time. COVID certainly had an impact on sanity. There was a large amount of conflicting medical advice from the guy who claimed that he was the science, Dr. Anthony Fauci.
Many hosts went down that rabbit hole. There were hosts who became experts in infectious diseases. These two stories were day-by-day balls and strikes. No one cares about the day-to-day developments. The people were concerned about their health, their jobs, elderly family members, the kid’s education, family finances, lack of available medical services, and so much more. Very few shows were talking about those things. As Walter Sabo says, “Eye Level Topics.” Sure, 2020 was filled with amazing storylines. But hosts missed the boat.
A lot of hosts are mired in the day-to-day shenanigans at state capitols all over the USA. The only people who care about such things are the few insiders, legislators, the staff at the capital, and perhaps the governor. Your audience only cares about what affects their lives. A vote in the state education committee is so granular that literally no one cares about it. A listener-focused experience is about what interests your listeners.
I have a bunch of niche hobbies. I’ll give you an example: I am a fan of the rebound of the California Condor. I can speak about this for hours and I even run the California Condor Recovery Group on Facebook which was co-founded by me and a condor biologist at the Los Angeles Zoo. Many Condor biologists are members of this group. Literally, no one cares about this except my Condor buddies and myself. The group has 3,100 people. The education subcommittee meeting has few people interested in the vote. The city council meeting will have less than 30 citizens attending it. Why are you discussing these things? No one cares. Your audience cares about the things that impact them.
I can give you a myriad of examples of these topics that dominated the news cycle. Topic A is essential to discuss the biggest story of the day. Most often, the host’s weakness is in understanding what the biggest story is. I get it. I have done a daily show for a great deal of my career. We discuss serious things. What does this mean for your listeners? If it is a national story, how is it important to your listeners and community? Not everything is serious. There are almost daily stories that are, shall we say, fun. These stories can inspire stories and ideas from your listeners. Bringing your audience into the conversation, what a concept.
Are you focusing on the biggest thing that impacts your audience today? That is Topic A. Also, realize that you are a source of entertainment for your listeners. Being topical does not mean that you are breaking down the intricacies of tax policy. Being topical means that you are meeting your audience where they are at.
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Peter Thiele is a weekly news/talk radio columnist for Barrett Media, and an experienced news/talk radio programmer. He currently serves as News/Talk Format Captain for Zimmer Communications. Prior to joining Zimmer, Peter held programming positions in New York City, San Francisco, Des Moines, Little Rock, Greenville, Hunstville, and Joplin. Peter has also worked as a host, account executive and producer in Minneapolis, and San Antonio. He can be found on Twitter at @PeterThiele.
