Monday, March 12, 2007

Radio Debates or Forums

As Eric notes on his blog, candidates in the Mendocino County District Attorney's race participated in a public forum last week. They'll be having a special election for that seat next month.

As I mentioned on both Eric and Ed Denson's blog, I managed to catch the candidates on a radio broadcast forum last month while driving through Mendocino County.

One thing I appreciated, as far as how they ran the forum, is the two male candidates- Faulder and Schlosser- always identified themselves before they'd speak. Before saying anything else they'd always go, "This is Keith Faulder...". That made things a lot easier to follow.

I remember some years ago one of the few times I listened to Thursday Night Talk. What station does that...KHSU? There were four or five guests doing some sort of discussion, including one I knew personally; Kevin Bastian, the Libertarian Party candidate for Congress at the time.

For the life of me I couldn't tell who was saying what the whole show, even when Kevin spoke, as no one identified themselves before speaking.

So, just a suggestion for any of you radio folks out there: Figure out some way for listeners to tell who's saying what on those types of shows.

6 Comments:

At 12:37 PM, Blogger Carol said...

OK, Fred, I'll remember your advice next time I am on the radio.

 
At 1:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is how government regulations start. Some "hearing challenged" person like Fred says he has a new requirement and after awhile it becomes law. Get a hearing aid Fred or read a transcript afterwards. Don't give the candidates more excuses to run out the clock without answering the questions. Are you a libertarian or a whineatarian?

 
At 1:55 PM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

Are you a chump, or what?

Obviously some candidates know this can be a problem and they took care of the issue by identifying themselves before speaking.

Seems to me it doesn't make a whole lot of sense to spend time doing a radio show if everyone has to get a transcript of the show afterwards to see who said what.

 
At 11:00 AM, Blogger Hayduke said...

Fred's right. Unless it is one on one, it helps to have people identified.

 
At 11:27 AM, Blogger Fred Mangels said...

When you think about it, even on TV forums they usually identify the people speaking somehow or another. It's even harder to tell them apart when you can't see them.

 
At 7:31 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fred is a Whinetarian! haha so true!

 

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