Shot Booster

There's a couple with whom we're friendly who are, politically, polar opposites of ours, and by that I don't mean conservative vs. liberal or Republican vs. Democrat, though there's that, too. We're talking sanity vs. Q-adjacent here. Low-key vs. sending every meme you see on Facebook to an unsolicited email chain. That far apart. Yet we still find ways to remain friendly, because life's too short.

When the vaccines were announced, we knew they'd be skeptical. They're big talk radio listeners -- yet they appear unaware of what I do for a living, and I'm not volunteering that information -- and they'll send out memes trashing mask wearing and Dr. Fauci and everything else you'd expect. And now, the Big Reveal: As soon as they were eligible for the vaccine, they got their shots. They talked one game, but when it came down to survival, they played another. They didn't make a big show of it, but after voicing skepticism, they went and got their inoculations.

I'm not telling you this to shame them, or to point out hypocrisy. I'm telling you this because if you look at social media or public polling, you'd understandably assume that the talk radio audience would be the most resistant to getting the shots. You'd be right, but that resistance is not as deep or as pervasive as the polls might indicate. It's true that the talk radio demographics -- older white males who identify as conservative and Republican -- are lagging behind others in getting the shots, but many ARE getting the shots anyway. They tell pollsters "hell, no," but they have a harder time telling their families they're not going to get vaccinated. As political an issue as it became, the longer we're in this, the more likely it is that the resistance to vaccination withers.

And this applies to talk radio in that even if you've been trying to "give the people what they want" with talk that reflects what you think the core of your audience wants, you shouldn't take a position antithetical to their best interests just because the loudest voices tell you to do so. Ultimately... okay, you have a choice. You can do the political thing to placate the hardest-core listeners or you can do the right thing and encourage listeners to get their shots. (We're not debating whether vaccination is good or bad, by the way. You want to debate that? Go comment on Facebook.) What my admittedly anecdotal evidence shows is that doing so isn't going to drive away most listeners, but it might, you know, save lives and that kind of stuff.

That point was driven home by that study Audacy (I'm never going to get used to that name) commissioned that showed how listeners' level of trust in media for vaccine information is highest for radio and podcast hosts. In case you missed it, the study found 81% of those most hesitant to take the vaccine would take "some form of action" if a local radio or podcast host recommended it. 49% said flat-out that they're more likely to get vaccinated based on that recommendation.

They trust you. Seriously, they trust you.

I know, that's shocking, but they do. It's what we've sold advertisers on from the advent of commercial radio: People trust the friendly voices they hear on the radio or on a podcast. It's why live reads are so effective.

(I don't know if what I do is nearly as influential, but if there's any chance that someone might be influenced by what I say or do, I just happen to be writing this the day after getting my second vaccine shot. So far, and I know this is probably a jinx, the only reaction has been a little tenderness around the injection site. I sez, go get yourself one o' these shot things.)

And I'd hope that your stations have been taking charge by helping listeners through the process of finding and getting their shots, once they've decided to do so. Some states were better at it than others, and some medical institutions were on top of it and others (like mine) were aimlessly flopping around and leaving their patients to their own devices. This was a great opportunity for radio to get major public service credit by hand-holding listeners through the appointment morass, pressing public officials on why the systems put into place were so hard to use and had such a difficult time keeping up, and getting the word out when shots became available. I hope your station was on top of that.

You are influential. That's why, in cases where the public good can be served by your leadership, you can put aside the politics and the tell-'em-what-they-want-to-hear rules and just do the right thing. You've been doing that, right?

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When it comes to doing the right thing in preparing your show (all right, that might be the worst segue to the plug I've ever done), you can do that by perusing the stuff-to-talk-about at All Access' show prep column Talk Topics. Click here and/or follow the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item.

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And we're coming up on the 2021 virtual All Access Audio Summit, and on Wednesday, April 21st, you'll be able to see my session on making the move from radio to podcasting, with Atlanta's Jeff and Callie Dauler and Amplifi Media's Steve Goldstein, and we'll be there answering your questions and you should register now because the thing is now upon us and you will not want to miss The Breakfast Club, Jason Aldean, and a parade of experts and cool people. And you don't have to leave your home or dress up, either. We can't see you. I'm thinking that's a good thing.

Perry Michael Simon
Vice President/Editor, News-Talk-Sports and Podcast
AllAccess.com
psimon@allaccess.com
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Twitter @pmsimon
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