Premiere Radio Networks has a new service that provides fake radio callers reading from prepared scripts.
You read that right. Hired actors. Reading prepared scripts as if they are actual radio callers. And they are never identified as anything other than real callers. The service is called "Premiere On Call." (Premiere Radio Networks is owned by Clear Channel and syndicates such shows as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.)
In the article, the editor of Talkers Magazine compares this service to fake callers on wacky morning shows. I realize that some wacky morning shows do use fake callers and actors (like Mancow), but most don't.
I produced (and hosted) wacky radio shows in Chicago for twenty years and you know how many times we used fake phone callers during that time? Zero. Not once. It's not necessary. Real callers are not just authentic and honest, they're better.
But they'll only call in if you give them a good reason to do so. That requires working hard at creating compelling topics. Not manufacturing fake ones.
It makes you wonder about some of the shows on the Premiere roster, doesn't it?
