How much is too much Trump in radio news?

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When it comes to Australian radio news, how much is too much Trump?

Like him or loathe him, there’s no denying Donald Trump is newsworthy. He’s the journalistic gift that keeps on giving, and there’s no shortage of news angles from which to choose.

But is the Australian media’s focus on all things Trump coming at the expense of the issues directly impacting us, in our own backyard?

When it comes to coverage of American politics and the ongoing circus that is the life of the US President, have we reached the point of overkill?

There are listeners who say the relentless daily dose of ‘What Donald Did Next’ is impacting their mental health. Some have switched off altogether.

Nine Radio’s National Content Manager Greg Byrnes doesn’t believe Trump is ‘burnt’ as a topic.

“We can’t not be talking about it,” Byrnes told Radio Today in a recent post-ratings interview. “But are we talking about it 3 hours a day? No.”

Writing radio news stories is challenging enough without trying to condense complicated geopolitical speak into a couple of punchy pars, making it more digestible for the average listener.

Donald is certainly doing his bit to help, cutting through the political rhetoric with his new party trick – dropping a bomb of a different variety. The F-bomb.

“We basically have two countries that have been fighting so long and so hard that they don’t know what the f*** they are doing,” he recently said of the Israel-Iran conflict.

Not only did the audio grab go viral, the carefully bleeped version was on high rotation on in radio news bulletins around the country.

A new political weapon was born – swearing. It not only shocks but camouflages the content of your message.

And it wasn’t long before others were testing the water.

Less than a week later – here in Australia – the Premier of Victoria randomly dropped her own expletive into the conversation whilst being grilled by reporters over the GST.

“It’s just bullshit,” Jacinta Allan said.

The floodgates are open, the seven second delay is off, and all of a sudden we’re potentially staring down the barrel of some raunchy, R-rated political interactions laced with all the colours of the expletive rainbow.

Pondering the use of the F-bomb, Adelaide’s FIVEAA Breakfast co-host David Penberthy asked in The Advertiser (subscription required) “Will we be using it on radio soon? The next time Chris Bowen comes on our show, do we have permission to say something like: “With respect Minister, when was the last time you actually paid a f**king power bill?”

But back to the original question. How much is too much Trump?

At the end of the day, it’s all subjective. Guess we’ll have to make up our own f***ing minds.

This article is brought to you by Radio Release