The Whole Truth

And nothing but the truth.

 

I heard something last week on a Morning Show in Virginia that moved me to tears.

The female half of this team talked about the end of her marriage.

Her honesty, especially about herself, helped create the most compelling radio content I’ve heard in America in at least a decade.

I have no idea how long it lasted; I don’t care, because it was impossible to tune away. It was impossible to ignore. It was impossible not to be moved emotionally.

Raw honesty is rare. Consider:

If you’re a lobbyist who never gave us money, I didn’t talk to you. If you’re a lobbyist who gave us money, I might talk to you.

That’s a quote from Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and Budget for the Trump administration, in a “Kinsley Gaffe” that occurred during questioning by a Congressional committee recently.

Journalist Michael Kinsley once noted: “A gaffe is when a politician tells the truth – some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”

But what I heard on that Virginia radio station wasn’t a gaffe. It was planned.

This air talent wanted to remove one of the walls that stood between her and her listeners so that she could be honest about her life moving forward.

It took so much courage!

And, in this case, it resulted in the best radio I’ve heard in a long, long time.