Should music radio personalities avoid the midterm election, even though it’s the biggest story for the next week? In a politically polarized country, the challenge is to acknowledge an election that impacts your listeners’ lives without turning into a talk show.
Listeners come to music radio for entertainment, connection, humor, escape, and a familiar voice they trust. You can preserve those strengths while recognizing an important national event. The goal is to address it in a way that respects listeners with different views and protects the relationship you’ve built with your audience.
Approach the midterm election with one guiding principle: Be a trusted companion to your listeners, not another voice telling them what to think. Keep it human.
5 WAYS TO ADDRESS THE ELECTION
1. Briefly dispense voting information.
- Remind listeners to confirm that they’re registered.
- What ID is required.
- How to find your voting place; local apps
- Early voting dates and mail-ballot instructions
2. Use humor to lower the temperature
Personalities can poke fun at the flood of text messages, the neighbor with six yard signs, or your own election-season fatigue.
3. Start with the human experience.
A storytelling topic like “How can we disagree and still get along?” could start with your personal story about a friend or family member with a different political perspective. Share what you learned about listening, empathy, and finding common ground.
- If your market leans heavily to one side and you lean the other, you’ll need to be careful not to “slip up” and give your preference away. Recording the segment would ensure that.
4. Focus on local issues that affect listeners
If the election affects school funding, roads, property taxes, or public safety, briefly explain what’s at stake and where listeners can find reliable information.
5. Be a unifying presence.
If you are a long-standing trusted voice, silence on the election will feel inauthentic to listeners. You could touch on areas you are personally passionate about that impact your community.
Here are the common ground issues that Democrats, Republicans, and Independents all agree on:
- Grocery and Gas Prices: Over 90% of voters across party lines agree that grocery and gas prices are too high.
- Lowering Health Insurance Costs: All parties support this.
- Cut Middle Class Taxes: A YouGov Poll reports that both parties and independents broadly favor tax cuts for the middle class, Social Security, tips, and overtime pay.
- Clean Drinking Water: Replacing lead pipes to ensure safe tap water.
- AI Spam & Robocalls: Increasing fines and penalties on AI-generated spam robocalls.
- Free School Lunches: Providing free school lunch programs for low-income students.
As a unifying voice, make people feel they all still belong to the same community, even when they disagree.
That aligns with the broader value of personality radio: companionship, trust, and an emotional connection that goes beyond the music and political division.
