When you look at where on-air personality is in 2023, a lot of it can be traced back to the rise of The John Tesh Radio Show: Intelligence for Your Life.
Tesh’s show went from weekends to daily in 2003. By then, AC radio already had a daypart replacement show in Delilah, but full daypart shows weren’t as prominent as they were now. Programmers would eventually start to deploy Tesh in dayparts other than nights—even mornings. The show would also spread beyond Mainstream AC, landing everywhere from Adult Standards to Jammin’ Oldies.
The rise of Tesh, as well as On-Air with Ryan Seacrest, led programmers away from the notion that there were only two formatic structures: one for mornings and one that did not stop the music for content during the rest of the day. Tesh and Seacrest had the authority to stop the music, even as the rise of PPM ratings measurement led to less jock content outside (or sometimes during) morning drive.
With the rise of voice-tracking, I hear a lot that reminds me of Tesh and Seacrest now. The easiest show to create a day in advance is the one built on topical bits—sometimes Seacrest-like celebrity news, sometimes Tesh-like breaks on new studies, manners, physical and emotional wellness; (the latter topic is certainly one that Tesh was early on, given its current place in our public and radio dialogue). Futuri’s new, much-discussed RadioGPT product is built on topicals.
What Tesh does is not literally what RadioGPT is promising to do. In the course of RadioGPT’s demo, representing an hour of airtime, there were six “jock” breaks. Two were music trivia/factoids about an artist. Four were more generally targeted: prom dresses for charity; a bridal party rescued from an elevator; the subscription model coming to restaurants; a state law that would prohibit owners from letting their dogs stick their head out of a car window. (Notably, there was no celebrity news.)
Tesh’s topics are not time-sensitive, but never irrelevant. Futuri promises to use the combination of RadioGPT to make topical breaks more immediate and more locally specific. Over the last year, I’ve heard a lot of radio that’s in the middle. Most of those hosts do not have Tesh’s authority or framing device. Recently, I characterized those breaks as free-floating content blocks.
I hear Tesh regularly in the course of working with AC radio stations, but pondering his impact on radio this week, I set out to take a Fresh Listen to the show on KKCW (K103) Portland, Ore. Here’s an hour of The John Tesh Radio Show: Intelligence for Your Life as heard on K103 last night, March 1:
9:00 – Selfie Etiquette: How the rise of the selfie reflects our growing self-absorption and lack of manners. The expert is Crystal Bailey of the Etiquette Institute of Washington. Her (should be but clearly not self-evident) advice on where not to take selfies: funerals, hospitals, bathrooms. Bailey also advises against the bored-looking selfie taken at work and sure to be seen by one’s supervisor.
9:05 – News & Anxiety: An ongoing topic on the show—the connection between a 24/7 news cycle punctuated by alerts and sleep disorders, mood swings, etc. UK academic Graham Davies recommends switching off your alerts, especially before bed. Followed by a sweeper (“live longer with the John Tesh Radio Show”) and a teaser for the next topic.
9:16 – Importance of Family Vacations: UK based child therapist/parenting expert Margo Sunderland on the value of family vacations, both in the moment and in creating memories that sustain people through a lifetime. There’s a teaser for Tesh on Facebook followed by a teaser for the next topic.
9:26 – Letting Go of Grudges: Pain expert Vicky Vlachonis is quoted about the ongoing physical impact of grudges and shares a “forgiveness mantra” to be repeated before bedtime (as opposed to doomscrolling and news alerts). Ends with the sweeper, “Answering the questions that your smartphone can’t.”
9:34 – Changing Up Daily Routines: This one is a two person-break with Gib Gerard, host of the “Intelligence for Your Life” podcast (and seemingly excerpted from it. Prompted by a Facebook question about a previous bit on Pomodoro Technique time management.
9:44 – Cellphones in the Bathroom: They’re not just a health risk because of bacteria. They lead to longer stretches in the bathroom (15 minutes or much longer). A surgeon says that those longer stretches actually increase the risk of hemorrhoids (a subject that Tesh jokingly warns is coming and then apologizes for).
9:57 – How Your Kids Relieve Stress: “Alright my fellow parents and grandparents. You may not believe me … but now we know that kids relax us.” “Despite the tantrums, the neediness, and the constant questions,” parenting takes adults away from their other issues, and their interactions with others help create adult social networks.
With some of the breaks covering several different topics there were:
- Three breaks touching on overall health;
- Three related to anxiety and stress relief;
- Two that were work/workplace related;
- Two on parenting;
- Two relating to the use of cellphones;
- One on manners
Tesh got seven breaks in that hour. By comparison, p.m. driver Kristina got six—at least two more than many Mainstream AC stations—and the same number that I would suggest to most stations. In those breaks, there was a good mix of station business, topicals, and local flavor, including:
- Two standalone topicals—Portland’s Black Restaurant Week and the importance of renewing your passport now in time for summer;
- Two breaks devoted to listener bit—a set-up about weird dreams caused by medication followed by a listener call;
- Two station business crossplugs—one for an upcoming ‘80s weekend, one for iHeart’s upcoming International Women’s Day programming. (The caller setup also featured a plug for the iHeart app’s talkback feature.)
