If you’re old enough to remember the days when newspapers actually meant something to the community, you might remember the power of the local crusading columnist, the writers who would keep an eye on local politicians and alert the public to corruption and malfeasance, usually with a combination of wit and anger. Most big city papers had news columnists like that. A few – Mike Royko, Jimmy Breslin – became well-known outside their markets. But the bottom line was always that readers knew someone was on their side, watching, commenting, and not letting the politicians and bureaucrats get away with anything.

Those days are mostly gone, and the rough equivalent of the crusading columnist tends to be someone with a Substack or social media account. That’s not the same thing, because some writer with a Substack doesn’t have the audience the old-time columnists have. A look at the polls right now should tell you a lot about how little the public knows about what’s going on, even as the internet allows for an unlimited amount of information to flow. The problem is that there’s too much to process, and too much disinformation, and too few trusted news reporters and analysts to go around.

But that’s not to say that someone can’t fill those shoes. I can point to KUSA-TV Denver’s Kyle Clark as one example, a local reporter who’s building a national reputation for several reasons, not the least of which is how he handles debate moderation. Perhaps you saw the clips of his debate evisceration of Lauren Boebert on social media, but he’s also known for being tough on Democrats as well as Republicans.

He asks the tough questions, which tend to be those simple and obvious points from which other reporters and anchors shy away, and doesn’t stand for non-answers. (I’m writing this the day before the presidential debate, and I hope the right questions get asked and non-answers aren’t tolerated. We’ll see.)

He’s not alone. WFOR-TV Miami has Jim DeFede, a former Miami Herald and Miami New Times columnist and reporter who mines the spectacular corruption in local politics. Maybe you have someone like that in your market, someone who knows where the bodies are buried and isn’t afraid to go after the powerful.

Or maybe you don’t, which means there’s an opportunity, even for radio, newspapers, and podcasts. What’s missing in news coverage and talk radio are the reporters and hosts who don’t parrot conventional wisdom (or, worse, political party talking points) and instead take on the powerful and privileged, standing in for the audience, unconcerned with access. Anyone can commit talk radio, talking about the election exactly the way every other host does it.

It takes a particular talent to do the work of networking, research, and compiling the deep knowledge of local politics and customs and turn that into entertaining content.

Here’s your test: Who’s the news media personality whose name is synonymous with your market? If you can’t come up with anyone, that’s your opportunity. Go find that person. If that person works for another outlet, try and hire them away. If you can come up with that name and it’s someone on your staff, promote the hell out of that. And if that name is yours, congratulations, and keep doing what you’re doing.

You wanna attract an audience even though people are telling you that your medium is dead or dying? Make content that people in your market absolutely have to listen to, watch, or read to know what’s really going on in your area. There’s a huge opportunity to become the local news institution. Why not you?

Retooling your news/talk radio show this summer is a worthy pursuit. Ok, I am not a fan of tossing the baby out with the bathwater, but this is the perfect time of year to try things. This is especially true if your show is on top of the ratings and revenue. I am going to give you some tools that you may find helpful. 

If your show is working well, it is very easy to ignore signs of fraying. Tiger Woods, when he was just destroying the competition, changed his swing at least three times in his career. Why? I am guessing that Tiger found his swing inefficient. He tried new things. Tiger hired coaches. It was his desire to be better.

Are you trying to get better? When was the last time that you were airchecked? If your Program Director is not great at coaching, or you have adopted all of his/her suggestions and don’t feel like the show is fresh, you may need another coach.

If you work for a large broadcast radio company, ask for a critique from another program director in the company. Always go through your PD. Don’t go to a format captain without the PD’s permission. If you work for a smaller company that does not have the resources to coach you, find a PD who has either retired or is on the beach. Offer to pay that program director a couple of hundred dollars. That PD may waive the fee to do the coaching. Don’t expect anything for free.

You may learn a lot from the interaction. Over the years, I have coached many hosts. I remember being in with a talent who was not cooperating on a point to improve his show. I asked a simple question: when you follow my advice, what happens? He thought for a moment and said, “It works.” I retorted, “So why are you so suborn?” He followed my advice and improved his already very good show. Change your swing.

Your program director is invested in your success. They get bonuses from high ratings. Likely, your deal has some ratings bonuses attached. If you get bonuses, the program director gets extra money as well. Believe in them. If you have a new program director, there is a reason why that individual was hired. Listen to them. Showing buy-in is better for you and better for the station long-term.

Evaluate special features. I have heard hosts defend horrific segments that they have done for five years. The host will say that the listeners expect and love the segment. Really? I have had a talk show host move on and have never received a comment about how a segment is missed. The listeners will miss the personality but never the bit, theme, or feature. Don’t marry your career to a feature that has no legs.

I find that hosts who have been in a market/station for a long time will keep adding on things. It’s like hosts have become hoarders of bits. Shed things. Less is more. Remember my first commandment: The worst lie that you can ever tell is the lie that you tell yourself. I can’t answer that for you. Are you telling the person in the mirror the truth?

Change can be scary. But there is always room for change and improvement. You must adapt. Humanity has always been adaptable while also being creatures of habit. Human nature also states that being able to adapt is usually connected with the impulse for survival.

If you have not changed your show in years, I suggest you carefully evaluate what you are doing. The competitive environment that radio and quite frankly all media is experiencing necessitates an honest review of your presentation, content, and execution.

How is your theme song? Has it worn out its welcome? Is your bumper music from 40 years ago? Is your monologue tight? Are you telling stories? What is your glue for the listener? Are you welcoming new people to the party or is it a slowly diminishing insider’s club? Have you ever been invited to join the Lion’s Club or those rascally Rotarians?

A lot of these community organizations are dying out. It is not because the groups are not doing great work for our society and world. They are dying because they became an exclusive club. The members became older. The group became insular. I have a hobby and I drove to a meeting once of people who enjoy the same pastime that I do. I didn’t know anyone. The club members were very good friends of each other. I could not have a conversation with anyone. These individuals never introduced themselves to me. I felt like I was an outsider.

Is your show like this? Are you inviting new people to the party? I recently moved to a new area. I am like many radio people: an introvert unless I am performing. It can feel like you’re an alien if you have attended community events and social gatherings. Don’t make new listeners feel unwelcome.

Your show is a living breathing entity. It is a community. Every area needs to grow. Sometimes a building needs to be knocked down to create a better way for the community to be connected. What buildings do you need to smash?

As part of a new contract with iHeartMedia, 600 KOGO afternoon host Lou Penrose is making a slight alteration to his timeslot on the San Diego news/talk station.

Instead of hosting from 3-5 PM, he’ll now be heard from 4-6 PM. And while that shift in the timeslot isn’t a massive change, it does put Penrose in a position where he’ll be speaking to more people.

You see, San Diego is a hub of activity for the United States military. There are three Naval bases, three installations for Marines, and a U.S. Coast Guard sector to boot. And with that influx of servicemembers leaving the premises around 4 PM, that leads to more listeners for Penrose.

“Afternoon drive is a much different animal here because of the military base. So five o’clock is drive time for civilians, four o’clock is an hour for military,” he shared. “Our traffic reports will prove that we have a very, very, very busy afternoon with very different audiences.”

It is no secret that most news/talk listeners are conservatives, most often White males who are a little more on the older side of the demographic.

But San Diego is an international city, with a portion of the city resting directly against the U.S.-Mexican border opposite Tijuana. Meanwhile, the city’s airport features arrivals and departures for international flights from cities like London, Montreal, Munich, Tokyo, and Toronto, among others.

When you combine all of those factors, it makes for a truly unique audience for Penrose.

“Most cities kind of measure themselves on ‘Are we a small town? Are we mid-size city? Or are we cosmopolitan?’ San Diego is a small town, but it’s worldly. I mean we literally have the world visiting us at any given time,” he said. “It’s our obligation to serve the people of the town of San Diego but also bring them up to speed on what’s going on in the world.”

He added that the large military installations make foreign matters that might largely go unnoticed in other markets sometimes a top story of the day in San Diego.

“Because it is a military town, international affairs matter. During the day, the folks that serve the military, that work there in the military, and serve in the military, they’re aware of what’s going on everywhere. At the same time, they’re still San Diego natives and they want to know what’s going on in their own town.”

Subjects that are of importance to military members and their families often rise to the top of the show sheet for Lou Penrose, because he knows those topics are of the utmost importance to listeners in the market.

“When there is a national top story or there is a discussion or debate on international affairs or things like that, we cannot discount that because the people listening, it’s on their mind and it’s on their family’s mind, what’s happening around the world,” Penrose said. “So, some days it might sound kind of BBC-ish, you know, but, at the end of the day, we are a tight community. So the fact that we’re live and local in the afternoon (on 600 KOGO), I think it’s really, really smart.”

Not only is Lou Penrose a seasoned radio professional, he’s also well-versed in the inner workings of Capitol Hill. He spent time working under Rep. John Campbell (R-CA), Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA), and Rep. Mary Bono (R-CA) during his tenure in Washington D.C.

And while that experience is vital to his career now hosting afternoons on 600 KOGO, Penrose said it can be both a blessing and a curse.

“When you work on the Hill as long as I have … you get an insight that few in America get. I remember somebody explaining to me how lucky I was to be a staffer for a member of Congress — and I wanted to be a staffer, I applied for the job. There are more positions in the NFL than there are staff on Capitol Hill. That’s how selective and how exclusive this little universe and club is,” he shared.

“It’s the ultimate ‘inside baseball.’ When the audience reads the headline that ‘Social Security cuts are imminent. Big fight on The Hill.’ It’s like it’s dramatic for the rest of the world, but those of us that have worked there are kind of ho-hum about it.

“You get jaded. It’s hard to extend the drama of politics when you’ve been in politics. Because you kind of know where it’s going, but it’s too in the weeds to communicate on the air. I have to be careful because it will come across on the air that I don’t care that they’re cut social security.

“But it’s like ‘Yeah, they’re not cutting social security.’ … You get very jaded from the drama of the political world. I have to hand it to these guys on TV news, because they are there in D.C. — and most of them know this is all political gamesmanship — but they need to do the clickbait, headline-grabbing things … The bad is that you do not get as emotionally charged from the day.”

However, the flip side of that makes Penrose a great guest for other shows and programs.

“If I’m doing a guest hit, I can be like ‘Let me explain to you how this is gonna work. Here’s what’s going to happen.’ And I can bring the audience behind the scenes. I’m so confident that it’s gonna happen that it gives me credibility because it then happens exactly the way I said it and people are like ‘Wow, how did he know that?'”

Lou Penrose was incredibly complimentary of his afternoon cohorts on 600 KOGO, pointing the expertise of hosts like Mike Slater, Mark Larson, and Leland Conway on various topics, allowing the hosts to insulate themselves on a variety of subjects and interests, creating strong bonds.

He concluded by noting that the current state of the news/talk industry and the political climate is the perfect time for him to work in the business.

“I could not be more excited about being in this contract now with iHeart and KOGO, specifically in San Diego just because I really think our most exciting days of talk and discussion are ahead,” Lou Penrose said. “I was a young talk show host when they impeached Bill Clinton. And oh my God, ‘Boy, I really need to step up. That’s never gonna happen again.’ And I have now been on the air during two presidential impeachments.

(The debate) is going to be off the hook to talk about. This summer is going to be off the hook. And this sentencing hearing is gonna be off the hook. I can’t wait to get into it and have fun with it and talk about it … I couldn’t be more excited to be where I am in my career right now. We’re in America, in this great city to talk and get a great audience, and I couldn’t be happier.”