As traditional sources for local news continue to shrink, some North Carolina lawmakers are getting into the media world themselves.
They’re using their own radio shows and other digital platforms to connect directly with the public.
Every morning on the radio station he owns, state Sen. Carl Ford, R-Rowan, mixes his opinions on state politics with Southern Gospel music. He recently took to the airwaves of his Salisbury-area district to blame fellow Republicans for a stalemate over private school vouchers.
He urged the audience to “call your House member today” to pass the Senate’s proposal to fund the vouchers. He blasted renewable energy initiatives from Gov. Roy Cooper, who he nicknames “Roy Boy,” saying “this wind and solar stuff is a bunch of crock.”
Ford has been in the radio business for decades, long before he ran for office. Now he broadcasts from his legislative office in Raleigh during sessions. But several of his fellow state legislators have recently started producing weekly radio shows of their own.
Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, hosts an hour-long show on radio station WSIC every Friday. It’s also released as a podcast.She takes questions from listeners and shares an inside look at the legislature.
“We are at that time of season where the senators and House members look at each other across the battlefield and side eye and eye roll,” she said on a recent episode as the legislature’s short session wrapped up. “And some of us just laugh and chuckle in the background.”
Sawyer’s Republican colleagues in the House, Reps. Jason Saine of Lincoln County and Jeff McNeely of Iredell County, have also been hosting weekly shows on the same station.
In an era when most people can’t name their state representative, the radio shows give lawmakers a chance to raise their profile and explain the work they do in Raleigh. And they get a platform to advocate for their views on big partisan issues.
Saine says his show has been a great tool for connecting with constituents, including those who don’t agree with his politics.
“It certainly can’t hurt you to be a known quantity,” Saine told WUNC. “But I think people get to see a different side of people in politics too, because you do an hour, and you really do get to see the personality of the person behind the microphone.”
He and Sawyer have each paid the radio station about $6,000 from their campaign accounts for the airtime over the past year. While it’s a campaign expense, having a radio show isn’t a guarantee of future success in politics: Former Gov. Pat McCrory hosted a daily radio show on WBT in Charlotte, but he ultimately lost his Republican primary for U.S. Senate in 2022.
WSIC owner Justin Ckezepis says he sees value in having more local voices instead of nationally syndicated talk shows.
“I’m the guy who came in and slashed Sean Hannity on day one” when he bought the station, Ckezepis said. “That tells you, from my perspective, that I believe in locals, I believe in the power of that community, and engaging one-to-one with people is really the art and I think the secret to radio.”
While none of the Democrats in the legislature have their own radio shows, Sen. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, recently started a nonprofit to elevate left-leaning voices through local radio stations and newspapers.
Meyer says Beacon Media will distribute syndicated radio shows and newspaper columns in rural communities that don’t get enough North Carolina news.
“We want to open up one more communication avenue to them to find out, here’s what’s happening around the state and how it’s going to impact you, and what you should be thinking and doing about that,” he said.
Beacon Media’s offerings include commentaries and radio shows in Spanish, including a recent one on safety for migrant farmworkers in North Carolina. Another radio show will likely air on Black radio stations and cover the intersection of faith, politics and race. Meyer says the organization’s mission differs from efforts to give politicians a bigger platform.
“A lot of people have asked us, ‘well, what are you going to do to impact the 2024 election?'” Meyer said. “And we’re not going to do anything to impact the 2024 election. That’s not our model at all, we’re not trying to, and we’re not trying to be an election organization. We’re trying to be a news and commentary organization.”
He says the goal is to help short-staffed newspapers and radio stations.
“A lot of people think that news deserts mean that like all the local papers have gone away, and they haven’t,” he said. “They just don’t have enough money to create a lot of content and so they actually need content. We want to offer them content that they would get for free.”
Meyer says conservative organizations like the John Locke Foundation are already syndicating similar content, and the political left should be doing it as well.
And while the legislators on the air at WSIC in Statesville are all Republicans, Ckezepis says that’s because the area doesn’t have many Democrats in elected office. But he argues the shows welcome callers of all political stripes.
“No matter how popular an elected official may be, there’s always varying opinions, and they’re all welcome,” he said.
Ckezepis says that diversity of opinion hasled to engagement across the community.
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Publish date : 2024-08-08 06:48:00
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