I spent a good portion of my childhood in the back of my mom’s car, begging her to let me listen to music. My mom picked me up from school every day, then we would spend the subsequent 45 minutes together running errands and going to pick up my older sister. In my youth, those 45 minutes stretched to feel like 4 hours, an intolerance exacerbated by my mom’s inclination to talk radio. I wanted to listen to mid-2000s pop music. She wanted to listen to Rush Limbaugh.
Guess who won.
I got used to the different voices on the radio. I knew their bumper music, what time they came on air, and the small phrases and idiosyncrasies that gave them their charm. These radio hosts taught me about the 2008 recession, Benghazi, and Act 10. They talked me through how tax hikes worked and what the tea party movement was. This was before the era of sensationalized crime podcasts becoming mainstream. These radio hosts were also talking about current events and interesting news tidbits, but their effect was markedly different.
Talk radio hosts have to think through the issues they’re covering live and on air. Writers think through things on the page, but they have the ability to go back and edit out the bits that contradict or confuse. Pre-recorded podcasts also have this luxury, as they allow both the hosts and their guests to remove the um’s, ah’s, and stumbles which naturally emerge in both speech and reasoning.
Live talk radio is unfiltered. It leaves space for errors, yes, but it also leaves space for inimitable ideas. In the silence of the air waves, inquisition stews. Questions arise in real time, left to either be answered immediately or allowed to simmer. They are open dialogues that don’t have the luxury of page breaks, paragraph indents, or word counts. Instead, they rely on a host who is more contemplative than they are performative.
The spontaneity of talk radio is only magnified through live callers. Most local radio shows will offer a phone line, where listeners can call in and add insight to the conversation, for better or worse. Sometimes, callers can add nuanced layers to discussions. Other times, they’re anxious to tell you that the earth is flat and the government is helmed by a cadre of shape shifting lizard people. Such is the gamble of live callers (As a child, I always appreciated those with irrefutable lizard people evidence).
This is the key to live talk radio, the thing that sets it apart from podcasts of the highest quality: They offer an insight into what normal people think.
Major news outlets from Fox to NPR have an impressive list of highly credentialed hosts and guests. They have PhDs, millions of social media followers, and live in the nice parts of major cities. Regardless of their individual merits, they’re detached from the average, blue collar worker. They don’t understand how their listeners are thinking through ideas. When the audience is given the ability to question the radio host, they create a connection. Their dialogue is authentic, not scripted.
America needs collaborative dialogue. It is an important part of our nation’s identity. The Founding Fathers wrote the Constitution through compromise. In 1787, they spent countless days in a sweltering room in Philadelphia, arguing and conversing until they’d created a blueprint for the United States. They didn’t walk into Independence Hall with an unwavering plan for the nation. Rather, these were farmers and businessmen armed with philosophical minds, ready to spend the coming weeks tirelessly deliberating.
My current favorite talk radio host, Joe Giganti, who hosts The Regular Joe Show in northern Wisconsin, often encourages his listeners to “live life boldly”. Talk radio is always bold because it allows listeners to hear news stories be wrestled with in real time. Sometimes, those stories are messy and don’t fit a set of talking points. Other times, those stories are so eye-opening and compelling that they break through years of mainstream political bias. If the truth will set us free, then talk radio is a step towards greener pastures.
My mom, of course, was right. Whenever I listen to talk radio alone in my car, I can’t help but imagine her rolling her eyes and smiling.
