In 1992, I was listening to Paul Harvey. He started talking about this tooth whitening toothpaste.  It was called Rembrandt. He was three-quarters of the way through the commercial before I ever realized it was a commercial.  I still don't know if my teeth are any whiter, but I've been a loyal customer for 30 years. 

Live endorsements are the gold standard of talk radio—a one-on-one personal endorsement from the credible host to the listener. So why do we continue to abuse our single greatest asset?

Not working for a corporate radio company for a number of years, I've not been micro-managed in a while, but looking around the business, we are doing everything we can to kill the best tool we have against all other forms of advertising.

Some hosts go into a studio and "record" their live commercials before every show?   That makes no sense.  Why pay extra for a "recorded" commercial? Why ruin the spontaneity of the moment to air a sterile commercial recorded hours earlier? 

As Bill O'Reilly says, "do it LIVE!!!" Some hosts use the first person in their copy.  What? You don't work for the flooring company.  You are not going to originate my mortgage, and you are certainly not going to come and fix my air conditioner.  You sound like a fool. 

Don't say, "I will give you the best price", say, "they will give you the best price."  
Some hosts read the same copy, day after day after day.  Never changing, nothing original, and never incorporating the copy into the show.   I've heard one host use the vernacular of another host's live read from another station.  The buy was canceled shortly after that doozie.

We laugh at the influencers on the internet, Selena Gomez, Cooking with Mima, and Kylie Jenner.  Truth be told, they have 1/10 the talent it takes to host a 3-hour radio show, but we could learn from them.  The way they sell their products, the way they use the products, the way they talk about the products. 

Just like us, their likes, their followers, their clicks depend on their sponsors.  Why do we treat our live sponsors with such a lack of respect? We are the original influencers, so who do we care if our: 60-second live read is 1:05 seconds? 

Trust is such a big factor in the news media today.  If we do our jobs correctly, we have the authenticity, and the credibility with our listeners to carry their message for years.  We should respect the audience/sponsors, tell them the truth, choose only products we believe in and use, go off script, have fun, and give live commercials the same energy as the rest of the show.  

Who knows, if you listen to my show, and I do it right, 30 years from now, you might order an R and R portable toilet (15-year sponsor and counting) and think of me.