Bloggin' From The Heartland

I am writing tonight from Lincoln, Nebraska, where one of our clients has a major manufacturing plant.

It was an adventure getting here – something I’ll save for another blog post (the trip isn’t over yet). But, while I’m here, I want to let you know about some absolutely great radio I heard here today. Two examples of some of the best uses of the medium I’ve heard in a long time. Both happened to be on KFOR-AM here in Lincoln.

The first was in the afternoon, a statewide broadcast sponsored by the Nebraska Broadcasters Association, where citizens could ask Governor Dave Heineman whatever they wanted. Topics ranged from the seemingly trivial (mile marker signs) to the serious (property taxes), but the conversation felt honest, free-flowing and unscripted. Every Governor should do this – on statewide radio at a time when talk radio listenership is high- as long as they would share Governor Heineman’s approach.

The other memorable broadcast happened just hours later. A fast moving, powerful late afternoon Great Plains thunderstorm rolled through town. The broadcasters on KFOR were terrific in keeping the market informed, without any scare tactics. They described what they saw and detailed the warnings, without speculation or hype. They just painted the picture, as only radio could, until a terrible storm passed through as quickly as it came in.

Local radio, at its best, can be valuable and enormously effective, as it was today in Lincoln.