Scott Jennings and Alex Marlow have the unenviable task of replacing The Charlie Kirk Show in the daily lineup at the Salem Radio Network.
The network announced earlier this week that Jennings’ show would expand from one hour to two, taking up the 1-3 PM ET window, while Marlow’s podcast will expand to a daily one-hour radio show being heard from 12-1 PM ET.
Jennings won’t be a foreign name to the audience. His program joined the Salem Radio Network lineup in July, ironically, as a way to fill the slot vacated by the injury to Dennis Prager that left him unable to host his daily radio show.
Marlow, however, might be a more unfamiliar voice to listeners in the timeslot. A notable name in his own right in conservative media due to his work as the Editor-in-Chief of Breitbart News, Marlow will likely be viewed as the newcomer to Kirk’s former listeners.
The situation is obviously a sensitive one. Marlow and Jennings will assume the timeslot of someone who was assassinated, in public, with the video of their death widely viewed on social media platforms.
We spoke with two veteran news/talk radio professionals — one long-time nationally syndicated host, and one program director who has worked at the network level — to get their insight on how they would approach such a delicate situation. Anonymity was granted to both to speak more freely on the subject.
“I truly believe the succeeding host has to carry the legacy of the host before them,” the host shared. “Because it was a host that Charlie wouldn’t have approved of, I don’t think that would sit right with the audience. There’s also a business to keep going. But it just should never be somebody who would contradict the values, the ideology, and the presentation of the host before them.”
Replacing a host who died — whether expected or tragically unexpected — isn’t a new phenomenon. Perhaps the most famous news/talk radio show host of all-time — Rush Limbaugh — hosted his program until some of the final days of his life, before Clay Travis and Buck Sexton were tabbed by Premiere Networks to pick up his torch.
The longtime news/talk radio program director we spoke with said there’s a right way and a wrong way to address the situation for the incoming hosts.
“You have to address the elephant in the room. You have to,” they reiterated. “To just start a new show as if it was any other day, under any normal circumstances, is getting off on the wrong foot with the audience. The ‘delicate’ aspect of which you speak isn’t the death of the last host, it’s the tightrope of keeping the listeners of the old guy, and trying to build your own listener base at the same time. And the easiest way to drive away listeners from the old show is by not even talking about why you’re behind the mic in the first place. Address it, with reverence, and then begin your new show. That would be my advice.”
The nationally syndicated host agreed.
“I don’t think it ever goes away,” they said of the back-of-the-mind knowledge of why the new host is assuming the show in the first place. “I’ve never known anybody murdered. When a friend of yours or a colleague of yours is killed, you sort of go through weird actions.
“But in terms of the business side, it’s got to just be business as usual. Scott and Alex have to dive in. They can’t dwell on it. They can’t wallow in it,” they said. “But it’s certainly, I’m sure, in the back of their minds that the guy before that was taken from the world in such a spectacular, horrible fashion. And I don’t think that’s something they’ll ever forget. But they have a job to do. You have to keep your head down and do what the audience expects of you.”
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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.
