Sean Hannity
Dave Ramsey
Category: Washington
Election Year Radio Rows Put Talk Shows in the Thick of It
By Ellen Ratner
TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE
Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON –– Every four years, this time of year is when talk radio kicks into the high gear of presidential politics and this year was no different. Aside from the topic being a major part of what many talk show hosts working at news/talk stations discuss, a number take the opportunity to jump feet first into the fray at the radio row prior to the New Hampshire primary. TALKERS magazine and the Talk Radio News Service have co-sponsored the New Hampshire radio four times over the past 16 years. Being the first primary election of the season and historically the race still being fairly wide open, this one has the reputation of being wild and woolly with many of the candidates themselves being available to hosts broadcasting from the radio row.
This year’s radio row, broadcast from the Manchester Radisson, consisted of more than 45 programs including: Dial Global’s Neal Boortz, Thom Hartmann and Michael Smerconish; Radio America’s Roger Hedgecock; Genesis Communications Network’s Kate Delaney; Syndication One’s Al Sharpton and Warren Ballentine; Main Street Radio Network’s Alan Nathan; “A Touch of Grey” with Carole Marks; Dr. Gina Loudon; and Ed Morrissey. Local talk hosts included: WOR, New York’s John Gambling; WTKK-FM, Boston’s Jim Braude and Margery Eagan; WTKK’s Michael Graham; Stephen K. Bannon of KABC, Los Angeles; Marc Bernier of WNDB, Daytona Beach; Michael Berry of KTRH, Houston; Lee Davis of WYDE-FM, Birmingham; Scott Hennen of KNOX, Grand Forks, North Dakota; Mark Skoda of WMPS, Memphis; Lisa Wexler of WFAS, Westchester, New York; Ken Pittman and Phil Paleologos of WBSM, New Bedford; Richard Girard of WGAM, Manchester; Paul Westcott of WGIR, Manchester; Dan Mitchell of WKBK, Keene; George Russell of WSMN, Nashua; Mark Johnson of WDEV, Waterbury, Vermont; Steve West of WKVT, Brattleboro, Vermont; John Harper of WUVR, Dartmouth, New Hampshire; Tony Lopes of WVBF, Taunton, Massachusetts; and Jeff Santos of WWZN, Boston.
TALKERS and Talk Radio News Service producing radio row at N.H. primary
By Ellen Ratner
TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE
Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON –– TALKERS magazine along with its sister company Talk Radio News Service will be sponsoring a radio row at the New Hampshire primary. This is the fourth time that TALKERS has had a presence at the New Hampshire primary and the third radio row at the primary location, “The Center of New Hampshire,” now the Radisson Hotel.
Although the date of the actual primary keeps moving up, most of the participants are intending to broadcast from the event regardless, citing the importance of the New Hampshire primary. Iowa is also important but the date of this year’s primary –– January 3 –– makes it very difficult for hosts to travel and leave family members over the New Year’s holiday.
Some of the same hosts and shows that participated in the previous TALKERS New Hampshire primary radio rows will be there again including: Neal Boortz, Alan Nathan, Steve Gill, Scott Hennen, Carole Marks from “A Touch of Grey,” and Doug Stephan’s “Good Day” show will be broadcasting. In addition, several New Hampshire programs including WNTK-FM, New London’s John Harper and Jim MacKay; Dan Mitchell of WKBK-AM/FM, Keene; George Russell of WSMN, Nashua and WTPL-FM, Concord’s “New Hampshire Today” with Jack Heath program.
Rasmussen Reports comes to talk radio in DC and Chicago
By Ellen Ratner
TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE
Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON –– Rasmussen Reports president Scott Rasmussen is famous for his polling and understanding trends and people’s views. However, not everyone knows that he has a background in media and just began a radio show heard on weekends in Washington, DC and Chicago. I met up with Scott in the green room at Fox News Channel where he was doing one of his many media appearances.
First, a little history. Rasmussen Reports began as an opinion polling firm that published its results. Back in the mid-1990s Rasmussen began putting the results of his polling on the internet and he says he found “there was a tremendous appetite because people cared about the topics we polled about and wanted to know what their friends and neighbors were thinking.”
Rasmussen says these polls are scientific surveys. Most of the interviews are conducted via the phone and since growing numbers of people are abandoning land lines, they are reaching them in different ways as well. They collect a random group of people all around the country and make sure the sample they get reflects the nation’s population in terms of gender, age, race, political party and geographic location. Rasmussen tells TALKERS, “One of the things that is important in any kind of scientific survey is being a randomly selected group. That’s the way you get the results. The way you test to see if the poll works is to see in the real world what things the poll predicted actually happened. The most obvious example is comparing poll results to election results.”
Partisan Talk Media from the DC-Insider Perspective
By Ellen Ratner
TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE
Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON –– With the White House creating a new position to coordinate progressive media and online response, there is increasing interest in how to counter the perceived conservative tilt of some electronic media outlets –– especially news/talk radio. In late May the White House appointed Jesse Lee to the position. He had been working in the new media department of the White House. Lee had worked with both Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic National Committee on online and new media initiatives. He will have his own Twitter account.
TALKERS magazine has been following these developments in the Obama Administration and we asked two former radio coordinators from both the RNC and the DNC to weigh in on the perception of talk radio as a conservative genre.
Younger Demo Show Emanates for DC’s ACLJ
By Ellen Ratner
TALK RADIO NEWS SERVICE
Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON –– There’s a brand new radio talk show emanating from the offices of the American Center for Law and Justice on Maryland Avenue in Washington, DC (about as close to the capital of the United States of America as you can be and still be a private enterprise). Jordan Sekulow, the son of ACLJ chief counsel Jay Sekulow, is the director of policy and international operations for the center and co-hosts his father’s talk radio show, “Jay Sekulow Live,” heard on Christian stations all across the country.
Last month, Jordan began his own live talk show that is fed to affiliate stations immediately following his father’s program.
