October 16, 2001

Henry Teutsch

    Kwame Kilpatrick is challenging Gil Hill to be the next mayor of the city of Detroit. Both are raising a lot of money and are pulling out all the stops to get people to give them their vote. The political strategies that work every time as well as new innovative actions are being used to sway voters.

    New it seems in this political race is the use of talk radio to use as a means to attract votes. Kwame Kilpatrick has what he calls a radio show on every Monday from 4 to 5pm on WQBH, AM 1400. The hour long presentation has the candidate acting as host with various guests and takes phone calls from people asking questions or making comments on the air. The calls come from people who for the most part seem to support Kilpatrick as their choice for the next mayor of Detroit. It is impossible to tell by listening to the radio if the people calling are registered Detroit voters or even reside in the city. Many seem to have issues directly relating to Detroit as a point of interests. And there at times seem to be many who for no other reason wish to call and tell the candidate how much they like him and will vote for him on November.

    Just a few weeks before the September primary, the hour that Kilpatrick now uses was part of the Back-to-Back show that has been a mainstay of WQBH for many years. It has been a fixture of the afternoon talk radio offerings. The show features more discussion about Detroit and its issues and has more seemingly Detroiters calling in than other similar radio shows or talk radio stations. At a time when Detroit is dominated by non-black talk radio this show as well as a few others has offered a different perspective on the happenings and topics in the city.

    The radio show seems to be a very popular show. At one time Gil Hill was the host of the show, which used to air ever day from four to five pm. He was the host along with a few co-hosts that changed from time to time. Now the show has several different hosts depending on the day in question. It makes for a confusing format as it is still one show but the different hosts on different days make it seem like different shows.

    Jay Butler, the program director for WQBH, has said that the station has proposed the use of this hour for any of the candidates. Former mayoral candidate Charles Beckham once paid for the time briefly before the September primary elections. According to Butler candidate Gil Hill and perhaps a council candidate are looking into purchasing time the same as Kilpatrick. When asked about the ratings of such a show and of in particularly Kilpatrick's radio time I was informed that the station does not track the ratings of individual shows. But they have received very good responses over the phone. The benefits, according to Butler, are one of primary importance to a business in that they have that time slot paid for financially. Even though being paid political time they can only charge the lowest going rate.

    The Kilpatrick campaign has said the show has had a positive effect on the campaign. The feedback for the radio time has been good. After talking with Alando Reeves, Kilpatrick field coordinator and Shannon McCarthy one of the spokes persons with Bob Berg and Associates the Kilpatrick public relations firm for the campaign, they both indicated that the radio time was an asset to the candidate.

    Teresa Blossom for the Gil Hill Campaign has categorized the radio time as a paid commercial. And indeed that is what it is, a paid hour long commercials. Yet it speaks of breaks and goes to commercials, they feature guests and in studio hosts and generally imitate a real radio program that survives on the advertisement of its sponsors. Blossom also said the Hill campaign is not basing their campaign strategy on the actions of the Kilpatrick campaign. Blossom stated, "Nothing works better than neighborhood contact". But the radio time seems to be a unique entity in the effort to enlist votes.

    If possible it would be nice to track the direct benefits to a campaign as a means to win an election. Cost analysis would have to be done to see if purchasing time on a radio station would then pay off in the amount of votes the time would generate. FCC regulations don't prevent a political candidate from hosting a radio show or from being a guest on a radio program. But the regulations that rule a public radio station forces equal time for all political candidates and prevents any station from using its license to own a radio frequency from pushing a political candidate on their public airwaves. So paid political time seems to be a good alternative to the rules and the Kilpatrick campaign seems to have done a first in Detroit politics.

    The radio show is called The Kwame Kilpatrick Show. At the end of the program it's stated that the show is paid for by Kwame Kilpatrick for Mayor. The show begins with the host, Kwame Kilpatrick and includes former guests in studio such as his mother, his wife, his sister and other politicians. He has had many interviewed guests such as state representative Hansen Clarke, who is currently running for Detroit city council, as well as other people who may or may not have a position on the mayoral race. The program has featured topics with no direct involvement to the Detroit mayoral race. About midway through the hour there is a commercial break that seems strange being that the hour is supposed to be paid political time. So you have a commercial within a commercial. Jay Butler says that these commercials, which have included spots for Lending Tree Dot Com, State Farm and Travelocity Dot Com, are network spots, which are purchased by the station and are run on their schedule. Other commercials from spots such as Fannie Lou Hamer, which has officially endorsed Kwame Kilpatrick for mayor, are not clear as to their original and as to who keeps the revenue. Jay Butler says that the Kilpatrick campaign keeps any revenue from those types of commercials while McCarthy stated that the station sells the time and keeps that revenue. It is clear though that as a paid political time the campaign may play anything during that hour it desires. And it does so when it plays the campaign commercial asking voters to vote for Kwame Kilpatrick. The candidate, when acting as host, also directly asks voters to vote for him as their next mayor.

    At the end of the hour a standard disclaimer is played saying that the views are not that of the station, which is usually played on many talk radio stations to help insulate the station form the threat of lawsuits. While it is not clear from talking to the various entities involved with bringing this form of political advertising to life if it was worthwhile. It does seem that it has helped the young candidate spread his name recognition and allow other would be voters who he is and what he has to say. If Kwame Kilpatrick becomes the next mayor of Detroit he will surely have to thank his decision to engage in this new form of campaign politicking, at least from a Detroit standpoint.