Talk About Making The Listeners Feel Loved And In Control

Props to national talk host Rusty Humphries for an excellent invite he posted to his friends on Facebook not long ago.
This is a terriffic example of how to engage with your listeners. Bravo!

Click on the picture to check out Rusty's site.

A Sharp Stick In The Eye Would Be Better

The fairness doctrine is dead, but that doesn't mean some other doctrine can't and won't emerge to regulate content. Aside from free speech issues, which are plentiful, the last thing radio needs is the government keeping tabs on what radio hosts are saying or playing. PERIOD.

You may have read the lead story on Tom Taylor's Taylor on Radio-Info this morning:

How fair is this?

“It won’t be called the Fairness Doctrine…”

One D.C. expert is convinced that some leading Democrats have a grand plan to re-institute a rule requiring balance on the airwaves – just the thing that conservative talkshow hosts have made such a boogeyman out of. This may sound like a paranoia alert, but the D.C. guy says “I’ve never seen such communication between the FCC and the White House.” I asked how often they’re talking, and he says “daily.” He describes a constant stream of people from the Portals (the FCC) visiting the White House. He acknowledges that both President Obama and new FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski have waved off a return of the Fairness Doctrine as it existed until 1987. But he believes “they’ll have something like it, under the guise of the FCC’s Localism initiative or something else. It might even be a rider onto some bill in Congress.” Would that be constitutional? Probably not. But more and more folks seem to think there will be an effort from Congress and/or the FCC to “restore balance” to radio – particularly talk radio. If you think the conservative talkers have made a lot of noise about the Obama birth certificate, wait until they see a law or regulation about “balance.”

I am not looking to turn this into a political debate, at least not here in this forum, but the idea of the government telling a station [owner] they have too much or too little conservative or liberal talk on a particular station is chilling. I don't care if it's Randy or Ed or Rush or Sean...keep your stinkin' paws off of free speech. Let the marketplace of ideas sort itself out. It always does.

This is not an issue just for the ideologues to wrestle with. This is an issue for ALL of us to stand together and oppose. We must let OUR government know we don't want nor will we tolerate regulating what can be said and in what amount.

Think it can't happen? Nobody thought General Motors would go bankrupt either.

When Fair is Anything But...Fair

The Fairness Doctrine in my view should not be reinstated. Period. This is an issue I feel very strongly about. If the goal is to destroy highly opinionated (and yes, one-sided) content on radio stations, this should do the trick. Why is this necessary?

I believe:

• Let the free market decide what programming gets on the air
• Reinstatement would be detrimental to both the left and the right
• With few exceptions, programming decisions are apolitical
• Bottom line managers would air bird calls if it would be profitable-and they would be right to do so
• It could effectively hasten the death of opinionated talk radio
• The financial burden of managing "fairness" could prove to be a hardship for an industry that can't afford it
• Does fairness apply to politics only? Will atheists demand equal time on religious stations? Will anarchists demand equal time on stations that talk about law and order? Will ethnic stations be forced to air other ethnic views? How fair is fair?
• What would be the penalty for lack of fairness? License revocation? Fines?
  

Last I checked, life isn't always fair. And that's OK. I suggest to those who feel slighted by "lack of access" create better and more compelling programming. Prove you can attract an audience and the airtime will be yours. I speak from first hand experience having hired and managed talk talent from both sides of the political spectrum. Make no mistake about it--this push is 100% political. It's not about talent, audience satisfaction, revenue, industry stability and growth, and most all it's not about fair. Simply put, this is about silencing political opponents.

This blog is not about politics and never will be until the government starts hinting that programming needs to start conforming to some bureaucratic ideal.

I have posted a new poll on this issue and as always invite your opinions.

Dave Ramsey-Radio Star

Today in Al Peterson's NTS Aircheck update:

» Ramsey Draws A Crowd: Nationally syndicated talker Dave Ramsey drew more than 9,000 paid attendees to his first "Total Money Makeover" event of 2008, held last night (1/24) in very chilly Grand Rapids, MI in conjunction with Dave Ramsey Show affiliates WTKG and WOOD. Ramsey, who seems to be popping up just about everywhere on TV this past month, will host a slew of live events this spring, with stops scheduled for Dallas, Kansas City, Portland (OR), Louisville, Birmingham and San Antonio. He'll also be a featured speaker at the upcoming Al Peterson's Talk Media Conference, Feb. 20-22, in Phoenix.

Let me repeat...9000 PAID attendees in Grand Rapids, MI. That's huge! Now I know Dave Ramsey has written popular books and gotten lots of TV exposure including his own show on the fledgling Fox Business Network. But let's not forget all of that happened as a byproduct of the radio show.

A lot of what gets discussed on this blog and numerous others tend to highlight the ills of our industry and what we need to do better. I thought as the week comes to a close it would be nice to highlight a guy who is successfully doing what we all talk about-creating great and compelling content.

Let me also take this opportunity to recommend Al Peterson's Talk Media Conference, Feb. 20-22, in Phoenix. The lineup is excellent and I am looking forward to attending. If you are going to be there let's be sure to get together.