As the past few weeks have dramatically emphasized, politics is unavoidable in radio… or is it? As Radio Ink readies to recognize the Best Program Directors in America, we asked this year’s honorees how they handle the elephant (and donkey) in the room at their stations.
We asked: How do conversations and concerns about the presidential election impact your programming? Do you see your station as a refuge from contentious political debate, or are you integrating election news and opinions into your programming?
“Election years have a positive impact on our radio cluster. With so much negativity around politics, our stations don’t touch politics. Our listeners utilize our brands to be lifted up and feel good from our music and on-air companions.”
“Programming spoken word means you cannot run from the 2024 election and all that it brings with it. However, research shows while interest in the election is HUGE, people are less interested in either Biden or Trump and way more interested in how this election impacts their lives and the country. The key to successfully programming through the election is threading that needle…Talk hosts who just focus on ‘Biden is this’ or ‘Trump is that’ – and way too many do – stand the real chance of turning off their audience at a time they could really be energizing them by going deeper into the election that the superficiality you see on many of the cable news outlets. The same for the news on our station. Cover the story, not just the candidates. From what I have seen and heard, this election is about more than just two parties. The stations that balance the best will have great fall books and set themselves up for a very good 2025.”
“It’s always the elephant in the room during an election year. Our position in the market is to be the distraction from everything going on that so many find chaotic and disturbing. The station is a safe haven where listeners can still come to have fun. On a music station functioning as a distraction, it’s best that listeners can’t read your ideology. The only small intersection is in morning newscasts… In that case, know the facts and stick to them!”
Curious about who said what and where they ended up on our list? Radio Ink‘s Best Program Directors issue comes out on Monday, August 19. Subscribe to our revamped print edition, digital edition, or both – click here. For a limited time, subscription prices are cut in half to celebrate our new look!
I don’t really buy that “our music stations serve as a distraction” anymore. Spotify can handle that. Young people do care about policy – there’s a reason the most intense protests happen on college campuses. Does abortion, immigration and possible war not affect 18-34 year olds?
Hopefully radio stations of all formats can inform their listeners with the help of a non-biased licensed news source that gathers original information, not cut and pasted from someone who has taken on risk reporting it.