Why I Never Talk About Politics

Politics. What a topic that gets so many people fired up. When I was younger I avoided anything political. I remember being fairly happy with whatever life threw at me that politics were for "people that had more passion to change the world" then I did. I didn't want my world to change so I just went with the flow.

During that time, a few political "moments" upset me and I quietly went to the polls and made my opinion known that way. I've tried very hard to keep all politics out of my work.

I feel that my political opinion shouldn't be important to anyone. I'm just some DJ in Vermont, right? More importantly, I don't think you listen to BrattFM for politics - nor should you. 

There are plenty of ways to talk about local politics. For example, our sister station WKBK in Keene, NH is the best station for local politics hands down! Dan Mitchell was the "2018 NH Broadcaster of the Year" in part because of his dedication to local politics. Nobody really can compete.

So, I keep politics away from my show and BrattFM. I like to think it offers the listeners a way to "escape" from our current political environment and just enjoy fun, interesting, local, and happier content then a debate about politics would bring. 

Besides, why would I want to lose any listener if they disagree with a topic of mine? One of my heroes, Johnny Carson, invented the "keep silent" approach that I have adopted. I would not have been surprised if he was a liberal or a conservative, a Democrat or a Republican. In his 30 years as host of ‘The Tonight Show’ on NBC, he never so much as hinted as to how he identified politically. He poked fun at whoever was in power.

When Johnny was asked why he doesn't discuss "serious" issues like war and politics, he gave the best answer: “Why do they think since you have a ‘Tonight Show,’ you will deal with serious issues? That’s a danger. That’s a real danger. Once you start that, you start to get that self-important feeling, that what you say has great import. And you know, strangely enough, you could use that show as a forum, you could sway people. And I don’t think you should as an entertainer.”

News should be unbiased facts without commentary. Entertainers should entertain and not give opinions. Unless you are a talk show host, people listen to you for entertainment....not your opinion on politics. Keep making great local radio and keep politics out of it. There's plenty of that junk food around. Escapism is what your listeners need in today's world.