The New New Talk Radio

Remember way back when everyone was saying that social media was the new talk radio? You can forget that. Now, YouTube is the new talk radio, anointed as such by The New York Times in this coming Sunday's magazine section, which focuses on how the alt-right -- the article renames them "the YouTube right" -- gets its "news" and opinions from fringe vloggers who eschew plain ol' audio like radio and podcasts in favor of cheesy YouTube videos. Many of those are of the time-honored face-right-up-in-the-camera-lens variety, that effectively replace listening to traditional talk radio for a portion of the potential audience (nobody really knows for sure how many people that represents, so take the subscriber counts and view totals with a grain, or pound, of salt, unless bots are your thing). It's not exactly interactive like social media, but it's just as interactive as talk radio, substituting the comments section (which can also be called the Fifth Circle of Hell) for callers.

If you entertained the idea that young people could be enticed to listen to political talk on the radio, maybe you should change course; budding right-wingers are apparently watching dog-whistling conspiracy theorist videos, nascent liberals are trading comments in the Twitter echo chamber and listening to reassuringly one-sided podcasts, and the rest of youth is posting cat videos and praying that the rest goes away. That doesn't mean, however, that all hope is lost for the future of talk radio. It does mean, however, that the playing field has yet again mutated, and the industry has to -- here comes that dreaded word again -- pivot to keep up.

Those who have been paying attention for the last several years will note that we have dealt with changing media consumption before, and by "dealt with it" I mean "paid lip service to it while continuing to do what we do and watch the audience age into decomposition." What you COULD be doing is to watch what's going on and, instead of decrying or dismissing it, learn something from it. For example, how long have I been telling you to do video, not sticking a camera in the studio but creating original content just for video? How often have I noted that some of the most successful video creators for the YouTube audience essentially just talk at the camera, close-up, and that's all you really need to do if what you're talking about is entertaining? WHY AREN'T YOU ALREADY DOING THIS? You're telling me you can't do a better job than some loon in Texas babbling what-aboutism and evidence-free allegations? You don't have the time? Please. I have no time to do anything and I do videos. No excuses, people.

The same goes for social media -- you, the host, not just an intern with your Twitter password, should be engaging with people on social media, all the time. If you're prepared to accept that, whatever you think of what he says and does, the President is effectively engaging his fan base with his use of Twitter (even if he's enraging everyone else), you should be thinking about how you could engage your fan base, and that means more than just your listeners, because there's a whole different audience who may not listen on the radio but will religiously follow you on Facebook and Twitter and who might just check your show out sometime. Podcasts? I've said enough about that already. Make them.

Every time you see someone declare something "the new talk radio," then, it's another reminder that we are in a multi-platform world now, and while you can pick a lane and stay within it, growing requires more than that, a fleet of vehicles occupying as many lanes as possible. The Times article highlights that you don't even need special talent or a command of the facts to gain a following for YouTube political videos. Imagine what someone who has real communication skills and knows what he or she is talking about could do with that. (That's you. I'm talking about you. Go out and show everyone how it ought to be done....)

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Whatever platform you're using to do "talk radio" (Talk video? Talk tweets?), check out All Access News-Talk-Sports' Talk Topics for all the topics you can handle, beyond the political. It's free, so there's another excuse wiped away. Find it all by clicking here and/or by following the Talk Topics Twitter feed at @talktopics with every story individually linked to the appropriate item. And there's the Podcasting section at AllAccess.com/podcasts.

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Is there a talk radio or podcasting topic you'd like me to talk about here? Let me know. While suggestions are always welcome, they're especially welcome in August. My hands are on the keyboard but my brain's poolside....