Alternative Talk

Over the years, I've written a lot about the wide, wide world of talk radio, literally about how wide a spectrum "talk radio" can and should cover and how there's room not only for traditional political talk but talk about all sorts of non-political things. That's how I programmed, that's what a handful of talk stations do, and that's what morning radio on music stations has always been. Not everyone wants to talk about politics, and talk radio can appeal to that audience. Simple concept, often repeated, rarely adopted.

However....

Have we arrived at a point where non-political talk is less viable than it was a few years ago? I don't know the answer, but here are some things to think about. On the one hand, take a look at social media. Political posts are overwhelming in volume. You can't get away from it even if you want to, but it doesn't seem people want to de-politicize their feeds all that much, even if they say they're sick of it. They don't want so much from the opposition, but they do want their side represented. Since the election, the political noise has drowned out all but the most hardy of cat videos (and sports, but that's a separate issue). Take that at face value and you'd conclude that people are hanging on every political story and every indictment and everything pro- or anti-Trump. Given what's going on, that would be understandable.

Yet on the other hand, how is all of this making you feel? Unless you live and breathe for politics, you're probably feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this. You could use a break. What better way than to blow off politics and talk about something a lot less intense and a lot more relatable? Whether it's talking about things that directly affect you -- traffic, health, parenting -- or things that ultimately don't really affect anything but are fun to discuss -- movies, TV, food -- non-political talk can help people cope with the political stuff and life in general. That there's not much lifestyle talk available right now on talk radio could be seen as a big opportunity.

Which has been my point all along -- "talk radio" doesn't need to be narrowly defined. It doesn't need to be one thing and only one thing. There's room for multiple iterations of the format. What's sports radio but talk radio that focuses on different topics? If political talk can co-exist with sports talk everywhere and entertainment/gossip talk on myTalk 107 in the Twin Cities and guy talk on Real Radio in Orlando and West Palm and The Bone in Tampa and business talk in a bunch of cities, why can't radio try more of that? Yes, if you've got an AM station with a limited signal and can expect to reach a largely old-demo male audience, you're going to be talking Trump 24/7. But that doesn't have to be the only option. I know, talk costs money and developing something from scratch costs money and if there isn't a lot of non-political syndication available, it might cost too much and you're best off putting on a cheap music format. Maybe syndicators can develop more alternatives. Podcasting (there's that word again!) surely is doing just that. Public radio is. Commercial radio, as an industry, can.

The question is whether it's as viable now, in the present climate, as it was a few years ago. I'd like to think it is. I think there might be a huge opportunity for talk radio that can serve as a pressure relief valve. Political talk, right now, is king. There's room for the alternative. In fact, we may need it now more than ever.

=============================

Talk Topics, the show prep column at All Access News-Talk-Sports, has all sorts of topics, from the political to the resolutely non-political. If you do a talk show, or a morning show, or any show or podcast, there'll be something there you can grab and make your own. 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.

Make sure you're subscribed to Today's Talk, the daily email newsletter with the top news stories in News, Talk, and Sports radio and podcasting. You can check off the appropriate boxes in your All Access account profile's Format Preferences and Email Preferences sections if you're not already getting it.

My podcast is "The Evening Bulletin with Perry Michael Simon," a quick (two minutes or less) daily thing, and you can get it at Apple Podcasts/iTunes, Google Play Music, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, Stitcher, and RadioPublic. Spotify, too. Google Podcasts? Click here. You can also use the RSS feed and the website where you can listen in your browser, or my own website where they're all embedded, too. And if you have an Amazon Alexa-enabled device, just say "Alexa, play the Evening Bulletin podcast."

You can follow my personal Twitter account at @pmsimon, and my Instagram account (same handle, @pmsimon) as well. And you can find me on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pmsimon, and at pmsimon.com.

=============================

Monday's an off day, but I'll be back with news and topics Tuesday. The podcast should be daily as usual, including Monday (no guarantees on that, but there SHOULD be one despite the holiday). Have a great long weekend....

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