Radio host Dave Parker (left) visits with Rotarians Dean Thomasson and Wayne Shank.

 

           Wayne Shank introduced our Aug. 9 luncheon speaker, Dave Parker, a Norfolk native and married father of three who lives in Virginia Beach. Dave is a familiar face and voice to us as he was chief meteorologist for well over a decade with a local television station. Dave started in TV as a weatherman by chance. He was a college intern for a Roanoke station when he got the call to “Come in, we need you to do the weather tonight” when both the regular and back up weather forecasters were unavailable. That opportunity led to a long and successful career in television broadcasting.

 

            But the hours for a TV weatherman are daunting. Family priority led him to seek the more “regular” hours of talk radio, as host of a show on WNIS, an AM radio station.

 

            Dave described talk radio as the hardest media forum since it is live and unscripted. You never know what’s going to be discussed or who is going to call. The only thing you can count on is that about half the listeners will disagree with whatever you say! According to Dave, the best preparation is to be well read, and to know a lot about some things.  “Knowledge compounds itself,” he said.

 

            Talk radio is slanted towards the “right” of the political spectrum, while TV is predominately left of center, with Fox News being a noted exception. Dave sees many in talk radio as “playing to the Amen Choir” or “stoking” the views of a majority of listeners. That means for the most part, attacking Democrats and viewing Republicans as “good.”  This writer’s impression is that Dave Parker sees himself more as a moderate or objective than most of his peers on talk radio.

 

            Dave also pointed out that while most of the hosts on talk radio or TV news broadcasters  are “slanted,” so are the experts or commentators who appear, often without any descriptive designation such as a Clinton or Trump supporter. Fox News rarely will ask Trump a tough policy question, while MSNBC won’t cross examine Clinton. The supporters often use phrases such as “another thing” or “furthermore” to hold the floor and go on to their next talking point.  These phrases should be contrasted with “however” or “but,” which suggest a willingness to see both sides of an issue and to entertain compromise. Unfortunately, compromise today is a nasty word.

 

            Both in his remarks and answers to questions, Dave addressed the particularly divisive political culture and negative, ugly current presidential campaigns. It seems to have sunk to a new low, with the likelihood to go even lower.

 

            In his question and answer response, Dave noted how the extremes of the “right” and “left” were dominating the Republican and Democratic parties, and making the campaigns particularly distasteful to more moderate voters. When asked about voting for a third party candidate and responding to the “wasted vote” argument, Dave replied that the only “wasted vote” was one not cast, or cast for someone you cannot stand.

 

            Dave loves what he does. Every day is different. He never knows who is going to call in or what’s going to be discussed. The great thing about talk radio is that anyone can call in, and usually will get on the air.  Thus, it provides a forum for all views.