Imposter Syndrome is real for many people. An unspoken fact is that many in the news/talk radio industry feel it. We asked national hosts like Buck Sexton, Guy Benson, and Chris Plante how long it took them to feel comfortable on air, and if they had any tips for others entering the genre.
Buck Sexton started his news media career working for The Blaze, the outlet founded by Glenn Beck. After starting as a writer, he then shifted to a digital video host before he said he wanted to start focusing on radio. He called that a fortuitous opportunity for a variety of reasons.
“It was a very fortunate thing to be in a place where you had one of the biggest radio show hosts in the country, and his team and his ecosystem able to incubate somebody from day one as a radio host,” Sexton said. “And to just have that expertise, that access, that coaching early on. I mean, I got fantastic coaching from Glenn, from his top producers … At that time, I was able to see in real time the audience grow, and I could see what was resonating, what was working, because of the digital stream and podcast format that I was initially in.”
Buck Sexton said that his confidence was boosted the first time he filled in for Glenn Beck, who called during the middle of the show to say he was proud of the first-time fill-in host.
The confidence only continued to grow when he was asked to fill in for Sean Hannity, which led to an opportunity to step in for a vacationing Rush Limbaugh.
“That was a big moment,” Sexton said of stepping in for Limbaugh. “When I kind of knew this was taking off and working was the first time I got a phone call to guest host for Rush. I don’t know if it’s me or Sean Hannity, but one of us was the youngest person ever to do it, at that time. I don’t know which one of us it was. I’ll say I’m younger, Sean won’t care. But it was a big deal for me. That was really meaningful. And the response from Rush’s audience was honestly enormously encouraging.”
Guy Benson has been on the air since he was 14 years old. That later led to appearances on The Hugh Hewitt Show alongside whom he called “my best friend,” Mary Katharine Ham.
“Pretty shortly thereafter, when he was going on vacation, he asked if I’d be willing to guest-host his show,” Benson said of Hewitt. “I was 23 and this was a national show. I remember certainly over-preparing and being really nervous for it. But over the course of some ensuing years, I was sort of the go-to guest host for Hugh for a while, and kind of got the rhythm of national radio and understood sort of how it all worked. He was very kind and generous to let me use my own voice and sort of do the show the way I would want to do it when I was filling in for him. That allowed me to kind of really curate in my own mind, ‘Ok, this is how I like to do something like this.’
“And when Fox came to me and they had an opening in the Fox talk radio lineup, and they were sort of gauging some interest, I felt like I had some confidence and an ability to do it on day one because of all of those reps over many years. I’m very grateful for those opportunities.”
Chris Plante gave credit to his family — he grew up as the step-son of legendary CBS News correspondent Bill Plante — for preparing him for a life in media. He said that finding his voice when he joined WMAL was second nature to him.
“I think the truth is I found it right away. I had never done talk radio before I started doing talk radio on WMAL in Washington D.C., which is a pretty darn good place to start,” said Plante. “I’ve always been a very verbal person and I come from a very verbal family. And I’ve got to say as soon as I started doing radio, I kind of said ‘Wow, this is great. I get to use the English language and I get to describe and explain the world around us in this unique format.’
“I don’t think there’s another format that comes close to talk radio, which is long form so you can use 15 minutes, 20 minutes describing a scene. And as long as you’re engaging and interesting enough in describing it, then it’s enjoyable and informative for the audience. But I’ve gotta say I think I recognized right away, ‘Wow, this is for me. This is perfect for me.”
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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.
