At Their Service

Let me explain myself a little better.

Sometimes, in this space, I talk about how there's plenty of room and demand for "non-political" talk, which some people interpret a little too strictly. They think that means I don't want to hear ANY politics, or want nothing but inconsequential talk about inconsequential things, like reality TV or where to find the best donuts in town. That's not what I mean. What I mean is that, whether you're talking about issues or TV shows or sports or whatever, you're not reducing it to the purely political elements. I'm bringing that up this week because something occurred to me about talk radio right now that I think might be a missed bet.

Talk radio is riding the wave of Trump talk these days, and it's working to some extent -- numbers are good if you don't pay a lot of attention to demographics. But it's still skewing older, and it's still really hard to listen to if you're not deeply into the us-versus-them and gamesmanship aspects of politics. What's missing, at least to my ears, is something I've always thought was a potential strength of the medium, the ability to cut through all of the noise and explain how what's happening in the news will directly affect the listener. It's never been needed more, and never been talked about less, than right now.

Example: Health insurance. Most radio talk shows are concentrating on "repeal and replace" and Congress' flailing and the President's inconsistency and insurer bailouts and the stuff that you see on cable news. Meanwhile, enrollment is about to open and your listeners have zero idea what they're in for. Those of us who have to buy insurance on the individual market are hearing about probable huge increases but we have no information as to how bad this is going to be. The ACA market is a massive question mark because of the political games being played. Talk radio is focusing on the political fight, but is anyone focusing on what the end result is going to be for this coming year, right now, talking to the insurance people and experts and helping listeners make sense not just of the politics but what their financial responsibility is going to be?

Or the tax cuts. What's this going to mean for your listeners? Are you just repeating the President's vague word for it, or the Democrats' resistance, or are you actually trying to get an impartial analysis to find out what your average listeners are going to see for their tax bill in 2018 and beyond?

Getting answers is hard. There might not BE any answers for some of these questions. But I can speak as a member of the American public and say that I would like someone in talk radio to take a break from the pro-Trump or anti-Trump drumbeat and just help me find out what to expect when I have to sign up for an insurance plan in two weeks. I want to know if I'm going to see a tax break or if the proposed changes will end up costing me more. The stuff you're talking about -- football players taking a knee, calls to Gold Star families, the general political circus -- is certainly interesting, but those issues don't affect most people's real lives. They have to pay their bills, they need health care, they pay taxes. They have serious, pressing questions, and you -- talk radio -- have more access to answers, or at least better explanations, than they do.

That's not explicitly "political talk" the way talk radio has defined it. Maybe it's more of the "news you can use" variety. But I think it's what's missing from talk radio that would resonate with more people, across the entire political spectrum, than catering to the P1s with the us-versus-them stuff. I might be way off base here, especially at a time when the us-versus-them stuff is so in front of the headlines, but I'm thinking that there's value for talk radio in being there for your audience, being their advocate not in the rooting-interest sense but for actual important issues, going to bat for them to get the answers they need to the questions that are causing them intense anxiety right now. It's a role few in the media are playing right now, because it's harder to do than to just pontificate about athletes standing for the anthem or whether the President said one thing or another.

Someone needs to do it. Maybe you should.

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There are a lot of things to talk about, whether you go serious or silly, and All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics has ideas for you along the entire spectrum. Find it all by clicking here and/or by following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. And there's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts. This week, check out "10 Questions With..." KBOI/Boise afternoon host and newly-minted PD Nate Shelman, who brings some great perspective to programming based on a really interesting career to date.

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This column is going out on October 20th, which happens to be my and Fran's wedding anniversary, 27 years. I'm gonna go start the celebration right now. Talk to you next week.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
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