Where Are We, Anyway?, And Other Questions For You

Are you currently (or within the last year or so) a host or producer on a political talk radio station? If so, I need your help. I'm gonna ask a few questions, and I'd appreciate it if you can drop me an email answering them. Answers will be confidential and off-the-record, just for my own edification. Just send your responses to me at psimon@allaccess.com and it'll help me get a handle on things.

Oh, first, I should explain what I mean by "things." Well, okay, I listen to a lot of talk -- radio, podcasts, the people at the next table at Starbucks -- and I can hear a marked difference between, oh, let's say, early last year and today. You'll get the idea from the questions. Here they are:

1. Do you feel that you have to be in agreement with what your core audience thinks about politics? Specifically, do you fear that they will stop listening if you stray from the message?

2. Do you find yourself having to defend things on the air that, privately, you can't stomach? Are you sometimes feeling like you have to "take one for the team" by arguing something you don't really believe, for the sake of the show, consistency, ratings, whatever?

3. Has social media changed the conversation? Do you hear a change in how callers approach the issues, and is it along the lines of Twitter and Facebook posts?

4. Do you see this changing? What do you think will have to happen to change the discourse, or is this how it's going to be from now on? And if this IS how it's going to be, do you think talk radio will have a prominent place in the conversation, or will people move elsewhere?

5. This one's general: What do you see as your role, and who do you feel you represent when you crack the mic? Are you a party loyalist, an ideologue, a representative of the audience, an outsider, a reporter, an ombudsman? And do you carry that role into interviews -- do you think you should challenge a politician in an interview or be more accommodating, and does that depend on the subject?

I'm asking so I can get a better grasp of where talk radio stands in 2017. I can answer some of these myself, but the perspective of those who are on the air now, dealing with things on a daily basis, is something I find valuable, so help me out here, won't you? Again, send your responses to me at psimon@allaccess.com; answers are off-the-record and anonymous, and I won't quote any of them without express permission. Deal? Great. Let me know what's going on in your world. Oh, and if you want to go ON the record with questions more about you than all of that, we can do 10 Questions; if I haven't interviewed you in the last, say, 4 years, and you're up for it, click here to email me and we'll do that.

Look, you don't learn much if you don't ask questions. I'm not judging, and I'm not taking sides. I just want to know what you're finding, and how it's affecting what you do on the air. Who knows? We might achieve a moment of clarity. That's always fun.

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I have some thoughts about some of the things I touched on in the questions, but I'm gonna hold fire until I get some feedback. I'm looking at this as continuing education. You're never too old to learn, whatever they say about old dogs.

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