news/talk radio – Page 7 – TALKERS magazine

Top News/Talk Media Stories This Past Week (February 2-6, 2026)

By TALKERS | February 6, 2026 by TALKERS

Here are the most talked about stories of the past week (2/2-6) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS:

Stories

Trump ICE Activities, Policies and Backlash
Epstein Files Revelations
The Economy / Inflation / Interest Rates / Tariffs
U.S.-India Trade Agreement
Trump Floats Controversial Election Reform / FBI Raids GA Election Headquarters
Middle East Tensions – Iran – Gaza / Russia-Ukraine War
Trump’s Health Concerns – POTUS Poops Pants at Presser
Nancy Guthrie Missing
Measles Outbreak
Melania Movie / Pre Superbowl Hype, Speculation, and Politics / Trump to “Renovate” Kennedy Arts Center

People

Donald Trump
Kristi Noem / Gregory Bovino / Tom Homan / Pam Bondi
Jeffrey Epstein / Ghislaine Maxwell / Bill and Hillary Clinton / Melania Trump / Tulsi Gabbard
Alex Pretti / Renee Good
Jerome Powell / Kevin Warsh
Masoud Pezeshkian / Narendra Modi / Marco Rubio / Vladimir Putin
Nancy and Savannah Guthrie
Bad Bunny
Drake Maye / Sam Darnold / Mike Vrabel
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr / Maria Shriver

To see the full TALKERS Stories, Topics, and People Charts, please click HERE.

Industry News

Yesterday’s Top News/Talk Media Stories (2/4)

By TALKERS | February 5, 2026 by TALKERS

The most discussed stories yesterday (2/4) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS research:

ICE Operations / Trump’s NBC Interview
Epstein Files / Resignations
Nike DEI Investigation
WaPo Layoffs
Super Bowl / Bad Bunny / TPUSA Halftime Show

Industry News

Yesterday’s Top News/Talk Media Stories (2/3)

By TALKERS | February 4, 2026 by TALKERS

The most discussed stories yesterday (2/3) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS research:

Government Shutdown Ends
ICE Operations / Protests
Epstein Files
U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks
Russia-Ukraine War / Peace Talks

Industry News

Yesterday’s Top News/Talk Media Stories (2/2)

By TALKERS | February 3, 2026 by TALKERS

The most discussed stories yesterday (2/2) on news/talk radio and related talk media according to TALKERS research:

Partial Government Shutdown
ICE Operations / Protests
Epstein Files / Clintons to Testify
Trump Calls for “Nationalizing” Elections
Savannah Guthrie’s Missing Mother

Industry Views

Monday Memo: TV Wants In – Welcome Them

By TALKERS | February 2, 2026February 2, 2026 by TALKERS

By Holland Cooke
Consultant

Linear broadcast media have never been more challenged. Internet video now commands far more viewing time than over-the-air TV. And their own networks are hijacking viewers! Your local NBC station tells you to watch Peacock. ABC points you to Disney+. CBS pushes Paramount+. Affiliates are effectively forced to promote their own competition.

Music radio is – at best – holding the line against streaming. News/talk radio’s information staples are more-available on smartphones and smart speakers, and its monologue‑heavy style feels less inviting than social media dialogue.

Radio has what TV envies. We’re in-car, and still #1 there.

TV has what radio needs. With more local news HR, they’re in more places.

Both need more promotion than they can afford.

Radio still delivers the most cost-efficient reach and frequency in the local market. When I programmed WTOP, Washington, we and what’s now WUSA9 (the former WTOP-TV) had a handshake deal to grab whatever we wanted from each other, with on-air credit. True story: The news director from NBC4 offered that “you can use OUR stuff and not even SAY it’s ours. Just STOP saying that so-and-so ‘told Channel 9…’”
And radio-using-local-TV-meteorologists is a win-win. Weather is the #1 reason people watch local news, so TV stations promote it heavily. Radio using their weather people underlines – and stands on the broad shoulders of – the TV station’s weather image and delivers radio habit-forming content with a pedigree.

Local TV and radio are the last two mass-reach media in town, with neither medium losing to the other. Resourceful collaboration makes all the sense in the world. Brainstorm.

Holland Cooke (HollandCooke.com) is a consultant working the intersection of broadcasting and the Internet. Follow HC on Twitter @HollandCooke and connect on LinkedIn

Industry News

Carr: Equal Time Rule Wasn’t Being “Misconstrued on the Radio Side”

By TALKERS | January 30, 2026 by TALKERS

According to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter, the Federal Communications Commission’s recent Guidance on Equal Opportunity Issues was pointed toward broadcast TV license holders and not radio is because, as FCC chairman Brendan Carr states, “There wasn’t a relevant precedent that we saw that was being misconstrued on the radio side as that wasn’t part of anything in that decision. It was focused on the potential misreading of precedents on the broadcast TV side. Of course, as you know, the rule applies to broadcast, radio and TV, but that one was focused on those TV precedents.” The memo to broadcast TV was relative to the 1996 bona fide news interview exemption that came about in the wake of an interview Jay Leno did with then-California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on “The Tonight Show.” The FCC Media Bureau ruled that “The Tonight Show” did not have to give Schwarzenegger’s opponent equal time because that interview segment qualified as a bona fide news interview. This matter doesn’t seem to be a big one for news/talk radio since news/talk stations are viewed as news outlets, on top of the fact that most talk radio hosts would love the opportunity to interview candidates with whom they might not personally agree. See The Hollywood Reporter story here.