Takeaways from “Talking Points”
We held our first “Iowa Talking Points” program in front of a live audience at Studio5@Mudd in Cedar Falls last Friday. Nearly 100 of you were there, and those who were able to stay for the full program probably learned a lot about a candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy, who is getting a lot of attention of late…if the number of appearances he’s scored on national media is any indication. He did at least four live interviews with Fox News, Fox Business, Newsmax, and more while in the Cedar Valley that Friday alone.
One of them, though, caused a little problem for us, and for those in attendance for our event, so I thought it was worth some explanation.
Our “Iowa Talking Points” program was set to start via live video stream at 4 p.m., and we did indeed start the stream then…but the actual program did not start for more than 20 minutes. If you were one of those waiting on line, in the studio audience…or one of those who simply left, and I don’t blame you…here’s what apparently happened.
We on the panel were ready. The folks at Mudd Advertising were ready…in fact, they even spent the day resetting the studio after a key piece of equipment decided to fail unexpectedly, so I know they were ready. But while the tour bus was outside, there was no sign of the candidate. Staffers at one point said he was on a call. Then he exited the bus…but instead of coming into the building, he instead took his place in the parking lot, with the bus in the background, for a live national TV shot.
For whatever reason, some staffer opted to make 100 Iowa voters wait with no explanation in order to do the TV shot…perhaps that’s a bit harsh, but that was the outcome. The candidate himself, I found, was quite genial and easy going…I bet if asked, he’d have come in, said hello to the studio audience and explained that he had to duck out, and all would have been well. But we didn’t get the information and so that wasn’t an option.
So apologies for those who waited for the program to start…those of us who do radio and television by necessity are clock-watchers, so being late makes us nervous. We will know for next time to get assurances that the people we invited to be there in person or on line won’t have to wait.
But again, as for the actual show…I think you’ll enjoy hearing it on KXEL at a time to be announced in June…and I promise, we’ll start that rebroadcast on time.
