Talk Radio and the Presidential Campaign: Missed Opportunites

As many of you may know, I also have a day job as the head of a market research firm: The Benchmark Company.

Benchmark has for years made a living working with spoken word radio formats. We have published three national studies in a series called Talk Radio in America (beginning in 1994) and have consulted dozens of talk stations around the US and in Canada. In 2006 I delivered a major address to the Radio and Records Talk Radio Seminar in Washington, D.C. where I echoed some of the sentiments you’ll see below.

And once again, as our research suggests, a lot of talk radio stations around the country are blowing the most unprecedented opportunity in years to create new listeners for the format.

And that’s because so many stations have locked themselves into monolithic program blocks almost totally driven by political ideology. And the saddest thing is that as more good local talk hosts lose their jobs only to be replaced by syndicated national shows, the problem only gets worse!

When are these self-serving zealots of conservative talk going to realize that a large number of potential listeners: you know those people that drive ratings and ad revenues, could really care less about Bill Ayers or ACORN, moose stew, or even Joe the Plumber for that matter?

This is a time when talk radio should be broadcast dynamite: looking at all the issues and treating its audiences with some modicum of intelligence. We have a financial crisis of epidemic proportion in front of us. Listeners want to know how to fix it, and how they can continue to have a roof over their heads. They want to see the truth coaxed from all the campaign promises.

Instead, too many right-wing talk stations are beating the drum for a guy they couldn’t stand six months ago, completely ignoring economic realities, and pandering to the lowest common denominator out there: character assassination. And they are irrationally exuberant about a governor from Alaska who has proved to be in much need of some vetting. The recent Rush Limbaugh comments about Powell’s endorsement of Obama being tied to race (and I’ve been a staunch proponent of Rush from an industry standpoint) are beyond belief, even for Rush.

Whatever happened to diversity in talk programming? Believe me, our research shows that listeners are asking the same question! For every local talk station (like a KLBJ-AM in Austin) that looks at the liberal, conservative and libertarian points of view and has a mix of local and national hosts, there are many, many stations that are running solid blocks of programs hosted by Rush clones with arguably variable degrees of talent. In fact some, like Sean Hannity, are close to being embarrassingly unoriginal.

And their argument about Obama and his “ilk” wanting to bring back the fairness doctrine to “shut down” right wing talk is patently absurd. The best muzzle out there is the off button. More listeners should use it.