the nasty dance

[radiotony]

Two quick points about Obama and radio ads: 

First, despite talk radio's right-leaning formats, Obama could gain votes by
targeting his message in different states with hard-hitting radio spots. 
Radio is such a hot medium that 30 and 60 second sound bites about the
economic upheaval that is going on could influence voters who might not
otherwise vote for him.
There are conservatives out there who are losing their homes, feeling the
bite of oil and food prices, and could be convinced to abandon their voter
registration leanings. 
Plus, if John McCain keeps talking about being in Iraq for 100 years and
doesn't address the economy in a serious way, he's doomed IMHFO. 
As it is, the country is split in half so it is either candidate's game -
assuming Hillary doesn't steal the nom from Obama. 
Obama is also polling well with registered Republicans in some states. He
beat Hillary handily in a slew of red state caucuses. There are votes there
for him in the general. 
If he could get even as little 1 percent of the Limboob/Inannity audience in
places like Iowa, New Mexico, Ohio, and even Virginia, and hold the Dems,
he'll win those states easily. 

Second point: Joe McGinniss wrote this great book which I think is required
reading for anyone involved in politics or media called "The Selling of the
President: 1968."
He walks the reader through the entire media campaign strategy of how Nixon
was able to target voters. The same could be done for Obama.
I will say that if Obama has political people - and not radio people -
putting together the spots, it won't work. 
The political people will get all gushy with issues and load too much in.
The ads have to be quick and emotional. Talk radio people get that. 
Hillary's radio spots in NH were quite good. Even I gave her second thoughts
after listening to a bunch of them over a period of weeks.
Then I shook it off like the guy whose head bobbles around in the Warner
Brothers cartoons, realizing it was Hillary and I could never vote for her.
But I was also surprised to hear some of Hillary's spots advertised during
Limboob/Inannity on WGIR. When I heard them I thought, Why is she
advertising these here?
No one listening to these shows is going to vote for her. But, I was wrong. 
While Obama pulled in the lefty latte highly-educated crowd in the leafy
suburbs; Hillary got the cities, the Wal-Mart crowds and middle aged women
in the southern part of the state.
The radio strategy worked: There were undecideds of every walk of life who
listened to those shows and clearly were influenced by the ads to vote for
Hillary. 
[Just as an aside, Ron Paul had ads everywhere, including WHOM; Giuliani
also had some spots; Duncan Hunter did some on WTPL]

Best, 
Tony Schinella
Politizine.com: Random musings about politics, music, the media and modern
times. Since 2002.
OurConcord.com: News and analysis for and about Concord, N.H.

-----Original Message-----
From: boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org
[mailto:boston-radio-interest-bounces@tsornin.BostonRadio.org] On Behalf Of
A. Joseph Ross
Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 1:25 AM
To: Keating Willcox
Cc: boston Radio Interest Board
Subject: Re: the nasty dance

On 22 Mar 2008 at 23:52, Keating Willcox wrote:

> I think radio is the perfect medium for him to get his message out. 

It once was, but I'm not sure it is now.  People won't listen to 
speeches with a lot of comprehensive, specific programs.  As John 
Kerry found out.  People want the kind of inspiring generalities that 
Obama has been giving them.  That, of course, results in criticism 
from the other candidates that he's short on specifics -- they are 
too, of course.

Campaigns traditionally have position papers on various issues, which 
some people interested in particular issues may even bother to read.  
Now the position papers are on the Internet, with all the details 
that a political campaign, without access to the government's 
planning resources can come up with.  

Nixon had a better idea in 1968.  He used radio speeches to discuss 
particular topics in detail.  It was a good idea, and it worked for 
him.  But it wasn't because people listened to radio, it was because 
other media covered it.  The text of his speeches appeared in the New 
York Times.  Summaries or excerpts, or sometimes the full text, 
appeared in other papers, and there were summaries on the evening 
news shows.  Would that happen today?

-- 
A. Joseph Ross, J.D.                           617.367.0468
 92 State Street, Suite 700                   Fax 617.507.7856
Boston, MA 02109-2004           	         http://www.attorneyross.com