by Doug Guetzloe

Talk Radio, an American political phenomenon can play a decisive role in winning your campaign in November.  Talk radio can strike fear in the hearts of your opposition and give hope to your campaign volunteers and contributors.

Thanks to Rush Limbaugh, talk radio has enjoyed resurgence unparalleled in American culture.  Once the only medium for news and talk, with the advent of television in the 50’s and cable in the 90’s, AM radio was relegated to country music and religious broadcasting.  Today, talk radio is ubiquitous in political America.  Recently talk radio was a strong bastion of conservative right wing politics and today has evolved into a varied mix of political ideology with the advent of Air America; Randi Rhodes; Nancy Skinner and many more liberal/progressive shows that are going head to head, toe to toe with the conservative icons.

Regardless of the political bent of your local and national talk show hosts, developing a strategy of influencing talk radio hosts and their listeners can pay huge political dividends for the November elections.

Some pointers for using talk radio in your campaign plan:

Talk radio creates a “buzz” for your campaign or candidate.  We use the old adage, “everyone is listening” in talk radio.  “Everyone” may not be listening, but I can assure you that many of your campaign team and especially your opponent’s campaign team ARE listening.  What talk show hosts and their callers say about your candidate or campaign can create a buzz for your candidate or against your opponent.  If I had a dime for everyone who said “I heard this or that on your show” I be retired.  Decision makers listen to talk radio and so do political junkies.

Talk radio is addicting.  Talk radio has measured its increasing success on the addictive nature of the medium.  It’s free and it’s easy to do.  Whether listening while on the road or by streaming audio on your PC, it’s addicting.  That’s a huge measure of talk radio’s success.  Use this addiction by political junkies to your favor.

Influencing talk radio is relatively easy to do.  One caller can get a topic going.  You can use talk radio to effectively deflate the opposition or throw more fuel on an ongoing fire.  Many talk radio hosts will use the day’s news as the fodder for their talk shows.  Talk show’s hosts are always looking for issues to encourage more listeners and direct participation.  Use that angle.  If your candidate or cause has a major announcement – use talk radio to expand on the issue.  Conversely, if your opponent or opposing issue has made a blunder – use talk radio to augment the relevance of the blunder.

Coordinate your talk radio effort.  Have a written plan in effect and hire a talk radio consultant to develop one.  Distribute your talk radio plan directly to your volunteers and those that want to participate.  Only 1/10th of 1% of those that listen to talk radio actually call in.  Every talk show has its “regulars.”  Develop your talk radio volunteer army by coordinating the effort.  Plan the day, the time and the message for the callers to call in – two or three “longtime listeners – first time callers” really makes a huge impact and the talk show host is more inclined to take them when they identify themselves as such.

Develop a list of talk shows, hosts, talk radio times, station call letters and call – in numbers to distribute to your talk radio team.  Make certain your talk radio team has the talking points for the day/week.  Have your team member’s work from a written script; no one listening will know the difference.

Use the Internet – the “new grassroots” to help coordinate your strategy and talk radio team.  You can quickly get the talking points distributed and you can also put a hyperlink to the talk show to listen to “streaming audio” live on your PC.  With the advent of streaming audio, the reception issues with many AM stations are resolved.  By minimizing your streaming audio screen you can literally send and receive additional talking points and issue updates as emails of IMs keeping your talk radio team fully informed and briefed.  Done well, this can be an awesome political weapon.

Use new people and new voices once a talk radio volunteer has made it live on a specific radio talk show.  Have those individuals concentrate on the next talk radio target.

Talk radio hosts use board operators as “screeners.”  Most talk show hosts will try to establish the issues being discussed that day.  Whether the show is an hour or three hours, most hosts will let you know what the topic or topics of the day will be.  If it’s on point – great.  If not you may want to change the topic and move the discussion to your issue.  The board operators usually ask your name and your topic – most do – some don't.  For those that do – give them your first name or your middle name – no one knows anyway and tell them you want to talk about the topic de jour.  When you get on the air you can try to segue into your topic or simply re-direct the discussion.  Most talk shows have a thirty second delay and you may be cut off – most talk show hosts won't but some will if you're not talking about their issue.  Play it by ear, see what works.

Talk to the show’s producer if they have one.  All of the national talk shows have show producers.  Some of the regional talk shows and local talk shows have producers.  Give them a call to talk about the possibility of interviewing your candidate or setting up a debate or a forum.  If you have some opposition research to “leak” give it to a friendly producer or talk show host first.  You get your message out and you've made a friend.  Make certain the information you give is accurate and complete.  One thing a talk show host doesn't want to do is put out false misleading or easily disputed information.  Every talk show host I know wants to be accurate and truthful when presenting information to their audience.

Don't forget national and regional radio.  Most of those shows can be accessed and should be.  Neil Boortz and Sean Hannity are fairly easy to access.  Hannity even set’s aside the last 3-4 minutes for an open mike 5-second statement.  You can get a lot out in 5 seconds – go for it.  During our successful Ax the Tax campaign against the Mobility 2020 tax proposal – we successfully got “Ax the Tax” mentioned several times right before the vote.  Don’t forget the national shows.

Stay on message and be prepared to discuss the issues and the talking points.  Talk radio is an incredible tool if done correctly and professionally with enthusiastic and prepared volunteers.  It can also turn quickly into a disaster if not well thought out.  Make certain you have the right combination of factors in place – enthusiastic volunteers – concise written talking points – conversational demeanor and you’re set!

Bottom line – you can win with talk radio.  Put your plan together and make those calls!