Considering that a majority of commercial news/talk radio stations have an obvious conservative bent, how do you keep the big picture?
I believe that the psychographics are much wider than political, though. There is so much to life.
I am going to list the attributes of your listener. Are you hitting these sweet spots?
Personality
Your audience is attracted to your personality. Your ability to express yourself is part of your radio show’s secret sauce. How do you put together a sentence? How do you weave humor into the mix?
There are billions of personalities on this planet. Your personality is as individual as each snowflake. Your uniqueness is what makes you special.
Lots of hosts are truly frightened to be themselves. While we augment and should amplify our real personalities on the air, ultimately, this is an exaggeration of you.
We are in show business. We are doing a show. It is about entertainment. There are many voices that express similar opinions as yours. Your approach, enthusiasm, and quirkiness are essential for your listeners.
Values
What are the things that you care about? This especially applies to things outside of your political viewpoint. Have you thought about this? These values create an important connection between you and your listener.
I am a big fan of having an underpinning of guideposts in life. While it is not essential to have a bedrock foundation, religious values are an easy way to define these. You may or may not be a person of a particular faith, I personally find that most people have a moral compass.
These directions allow us to make decisions that benefit our lives.
Opinions
Your opinion is the centerpiece of any discussion on your show. This is why I stress that leading with your opinion is most important for any monologue.
I often find hosts who talk about a subject and think that they are being opinionated. They are not. An opinion starts with things like: ‘I love this’, ‘I hate this’, ‘I am so angry’, and so on.
I hate it when I am in the line at the grocery store and some old codger decides that spending 5 minutes looking for a nickel is a good idea. What the hell?!?
Attitudes
These may express themselves in sharing your personal biases. Some of these attitudes are a part of a radio host’s personal ethos.
Your attitudes are different from opinions. Attitudes have an emotional component. Attitudes are a lasting tendency to value things via emotions, beliefs, and behavioral tendencies.
This is where I often cite confirmation bias. Your attitudes on certain things may hinge on confirming your biases. We all have attitudes, and quite frankly, these serve hosts well.
Interests
Your passions may be perfectly suited for discussion on a show.
Let’s say that you enjoy going to concerts. Coldplay and Metallica are some of the big acts that are on tour right now. What is your personal favorite concert? If that big concert is in your community, are you building a topic off of this?
This is a great topic that may not be hardcore news, but your listeners can relate to it.
Lifestyles
What is going on with you outside of your radio show? Are you carting kids around, watching the local team, golfing, or something else? I can guarantee you that your audience is more than just someone who listens to us all day and then watches Fox News all night.
If that is your audience’s lifestyle, your station or show is in serious trouble. What is going on at work? Why does it take two years to finish construction on that stupid bridge? What is your listener’s favorite bourbon or beer? The list is really endless.
Most weeks, we don’t have the potential for thermonuclear war. I am not a big fan of nuclear war. But here we are!
Your listeners are simply living the best lives that they can. I hit the ChatGPT and asked about what percentage of conservatives are involved in political campaigns. The number is under 10%. The people who are really involved is probably what? 3%.
I heard a show a while back interviewing the county chairman of the Republican Party. Talk about a snoozer. I grew up in a politically active family. My dad was a Senate district chairman. I remember that he was doing it all. This being said, “No one cares about the intricacies of political stuff.” People care about safety, taxes, kids, leisure, fun, inflation, economic growth, investments, and the damn traffic.
Have you been to the grocery store lately? Have you even noticed pack shopping? Pack shopping is where five people — frequently from the same household — roam grocery stores together, clogging the aisles with zero regard for anyone else in the world. These pests to grocery shopping slow down the order of society.
Have you ever discussed that on your radio show? Who does the grocery shopping in your household? When I was married, I did it. I tried to do it alone. I was able to pick up the necessary items without spending 90 minutes of my remaining time on this planet discussing and debating the various brands of cereal.
A lot is going on in your listeners’ lives. You must be focused on these people. Your station’s target listener is your human. They are interested in more than just issues; they are interested in how these things apply to their lives.
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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.
