Talk Radio News Service Graduates to Big Time Status

DC-based “boutique” bureau fills unique niche and grows into a major news media player

By Alan Linder
TALKERS MAGAZINE
Assistant Publisher

WASHINGTON, DC – As Talk Radio News Service correspondents are deployed throughout the Middle East in anticipation of the looming Iraqi war, company founder and president Ellen Ratner reflects on the 10 years of service rendered to the talk radio community by her somewhat offbeat and extremely independent operation. She does this from the deck of the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk where she is spending a few days checking out the situation, as she puts it, “to get a better idea what my reporters will be dealing with.” For Ratner, this episode in the colorful history of her Washington, DC-based news agency, which as its name indicates, caters primarily to talk radio, marks a coming of age.

As the United States stands poised on the verge of Gulf War II, Ellen Ratner’s Talk Radio News Service has risen to the ranks of America’s major league media information providers with three embedded military reporters broadcasting back to more than 500 affiliates from the very heart of the action.

A Struggling Talk Host’s Vision

Talk Radio News Service began in 1993 when then-struggling talk show host Ellen Ratner concluded that market conditions were not conducive for a liberal woman to make it as a full-time syndicated host. Identifying a vacuum, Ratner – a Harvard School of Education graduate based in Washington, DC – decided that the standard news broadcasts to talk radio stations failed to address the kinds of issues compatible with and targeted to the talk radio audience. And they didn’t present the news in the currency of talk radio – conversation itself. Thus, began the Talk Radio News Service (TRNS).

According to Ratner, the mission of the fledgling bureau was to provide news to talk radio stations in an interactive style and impact directly on the front porch, back fence, and pocket book issues that are the meat and potatoes of talk radio. Beginning with a staff of one – herself – Ellen Ratner proceeded with the difficult process of obtaining Capitol Hill credentials, almost impossible in those days for an organization with “talk radio” in its name since talk radio was not respected by the traditional mainstream news gathering organizations. Although talk radio still faces discrimination in the Washington news culture, the situation is far better today and all talk broadcasters owe Ratner a debt of gratitude for paving the way toward journalistic respect in the nation’s capital.

Guerrilla News

Ratner – an amazingly strong willed and dynamic individual – knew if her organization was going be taken seriously, she and the very small staff that she began putting together would have to be seen at every possible news event. This meant being everywhere C-SPAN went. During the course of its first year, Talk Radio News Service began achieving recognition as a legitimate news entity as radio stations and networks across the country began to contract with it for Washington-based news services.

“All talk broadcasters owe Ratner a debt of gratitude for paving the way toward journalistic respect in the nation’s capital.”

Because Talk Radio News Service does not do “top and bottom of the hour” newscasts, it has considerable leeway to be creative with its coverage. News is given to its affiliates in two ways: Straight news without “spin,” or news laced with opinion. Both entail the “reporter” interacting – even debating – with the local host (plus listener calls) and the impression is given that the Talk Radio News Service is that particular station’s or network’s arm in Washington. Customization is the key. For those client stations or shows that want non-interactive news reports or newsmaker actualities – edited news clips and packages are sent to them via MP3 files.

Diversity and Creativity

The success of this unique strategy is evidenced by the enormous and diverse client base attracted by Talk Radio News Service over the past decade. The entire political spectrum is represented from the left wing Free Speech Radio News to the right wing Radio America. Clients over the years include Fox News Channel (for which Ratner herself serves as a political analyst), American Urban Radio Network, Radio Wall Street, Talk America Radio Network, and even TALKERS magazine (for which Talk Radio News Service provides the infrastructure of its Washington Bureau), as well as hundreds of individual radio stations from the island of Guam to Long Island to the British Isles. Talk Radio News Service reporters are heard regularly on such diverse operations as the WOR Radio Network, i.e America Radio Network, and the BBC.

Nationally Acclaimed Intern Program

To set out to accomplish this formidable station reach without initially hiring a huge staff, Ratner got creative. She initiated a comprehensive intern program in order to utilize their energy and talent to gather the news. With as many as 15 interns at any one time, TRNS was simultaneously able to cover several hearings on Capitol Hill, a briefing at the Pentagon and the White House as well as a few demonstrations around town. Ratner’s background in education proved invaluable as the Talk Radio News Service internship program became one of the most highly regarded among colleges and universities across America, with many of its graduates going on to land major positions in both government and the media. Today, Ratner receives several hundred-intern applications per year and, as she puts it, “can choose from the cream of the academic crop.”

One of the by-products of the Talk Radio News Service intern program was the launch of a separate division called College Media News Service in 1997. Today, College Media News Service sends out daily news stories to over 400 college stations throughout the United States.

Accomplished Staff of Professionals

Of course, over the years, Ratner has been able to attract and hire a high-powered staff of seasoned professional correspondents. These include nationally known talk show host Victoria Jones; veteran White House reporter Connie Lawn; Washington, DC insider, Mike Sponder; respected young journalist, Gareth Schweitzer; noted historian Richard Miller; and the recent addition of embedded military correspondent, former U-2 pilot Cholene Espinoza.

In spite of its expansion over the years, keeping the organization lean and mean has been a goal of Talk Radio News Service. Ratner tells TALKERS magazine, “We aren’t in business to impress anyone with fancy offices or vice presidents in charge of paper clips. Our purpose is simply to get the job done.”

Operating out of a townhouse in Georgetown, TRNS does most of its business from studio offices in the basement of the White House and the radio and television galleries in the Senate on Capitol Hill. This “prime journalistic real estate” was not easily attained with there having been a seven year wait for the White House space and a 10 year wait for the Capitol Hill space. Talk Radio News Service has the most modern equipment and editing computers at all of its offices. It has full-time coverage of Capitol Hill, the White House, the Pentagon and the U.S. Supreme Court. This on-the-scene access allows Talk Radio News Service to have the influence and coverage it needs to be a premier news organization. Television viewers of Washington press conferences know that the bureau’s reporters are regularly called by name in the White House, Pentagon and on Capitol Hill and TRNS correspondents, such as Victoria Jones, are regularly booked as cable news/talk television talking heads.

Jones, who joined TRNS about a year ago following a stint as evening host at WMAL, Washington, DC, tells TALKERS magazine, “Being a part of this operation is one of the most exciting and challenging experiences in my career. Because of the way we interact with our affiliates, I feel as if I am co-host on at least 50 different programs across the country.

Expanded Services

The breadth and depth of this influence gives Talk Radio News Service access to the nation’s leadership. This has spawned a booking service for several syndicated shows, booking ideas, a daily “one sheet” for client stations as well as a service that allows client hosts to broadcast from the Talk Radio News Service offices at the White House and Capitol Hill. TRNS has also arranged logistics for client stations/networks for the Democratic and Republican national conventions as well as the Presidential Inaugurations and special events such as the recent anniversary of 9/11 at Ground Zero.

Likability Factor

Although Ratner, personally, has a reputation as a liberal, it is important as she puts it, “for the viability of the bureau,” to have a staff that reflects the full spectrum of legitimate ideology in American politics and she is known to go out of her way to be of service to Republicans as well as Democrats. As a result, Ratner is extremely well-liked by Washington’s conservative community including the heads of Congress and even the President of the United States. This “likability factor” has served Talk Radio News Service well. For the coverage of the Iraq war, Talk Radio News Service was granted three of the four hundred U.S. “embed” slots. News organizations were not only trying for some of these embed slots, but wanted prime positions. Talk Radio News Service was given three “front row” embed slots which included a Naval slot with the 5th Fleet United States Navy CENTCOM, an Army slot with the 130th Engineering Division of V Corps, and a Marine Corps slot with the 1st Tank Battalion. Reporting from 1st Tank is female correspondent, Cholene Espinoza, who would otherwise have been prohibited from serving with the unit because of gender. Talk Radio News Service’s embedded correspondents were told that they were going to get, “as close as any journalist would get to the action.”

By the time this story reaches its readers, the United States will probably be engaged in war with Iraq and the Talk Radio News Service correspondents will be on the front lines representing their talk radio affiliates side by side with the nation’s best reporters sent by the biggest broadcasting companies.

Not bad, considering it all grew from the vision, sweat, and goodwill of a struggling, liberal female talk show host.