Episode 182: How NOT to Book a Sunday Show

What’s the single most important part of the Sunday morning political shows?  It’s not the panels.  Not the questions.  Not even the hosts.  It’s the bookings.  Who are the Sunday shows actually interviewing during any given week?  In this special episode of Polilogue, we dive into the question of bookings.  And it’s something we don’t talk about enough.  It’s all to easy to take the shows for what they are—and then ask: how good were the questions during this interview; how strong was the follow up; how meaningful the discussion?  And yet, you could have the best questions, the strongest follow up, and the most meaningful discussion but STILL fail by choosing the WRONG person to interview.  How does this happen—and how could the Sunday shows do better? 

This special episode continues our series of specials while we spend time with our newborn baby girl. Each week, you can expect a new episode until September—when we will return to our traditional coverage of the Sunday morning shows. We hope you enjoy these specials as much as we’ve enjoyed the opportunity to stop and think more broadly about the Sunday shows.

Chapters

  • Introduction

  • What is a Bad Booking?

  • Missed Opportunities in Booking

  • When Bookings Work

  • Dialogue Challenge: How to Find New Voices

Contact us

Email us at podcast@polilogue.com or you can send us your feedback @PolilogueCast. You can also follow us at @sotonaomi_ and @bsteidle.

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Check out some of our other work: 

Brendan’s website: www.armisticedesigns.com  

Naomi's website: www.startwithaquestion.org

Naomi Soto