Talkback with Attitude

Thursday 9 - 10 am

In English.

General talkback, call (03) 9419 0155.

Presented by Joe Toscano (also a presenter of Anarchist World) LINK and Pat Khor.

CRAM Article June 2007: Talkback With Attitude

It’s democracy in action. It’s a marketplace of ideas. It’s everyday people debating the important issues of the day. It’s an ugly mob forming on the airwaves? Yes, it’s talkback radio. And you can’t have talkback radio without that rare breed – talkback callers.

And according to 3CR’s Talkback With Attitude presenter, Joe Toscano, “They’re recidivists. It’s a disease. They need to be cured. They need to get a life.” Turning to co-host Patricia Khor, he asks, “I mean, have you ever rung up, have you ever rung a radio station?”

Pat: “No I never have. But I now listen to see who they are so I can pick up the voices. ‘Oh, that’s not Diane, that’s Anne, that’s so-and-so’.”

Joe: “Ah you see, on our program you don’t have to change your name to get on. Or your suburb.”

Every Thursday morning 3CR provides talkback with a difference, opening up its airwaves from 9-10am to the voices and concerns of 3CR listeners.

“The whole purpose of talkback - our talkback - is different,” says Joe. “What we wanted to happen from talkback when it was initially established was for people to ring up to talk about the projects that they were involved in. We’re just not interested in opinions. You can get an opinion wherever you like. And opinions really at the end of the day mean nothing - I hate to say this. What we want is people to ring up to tell us they’re doing something, and we will then talk to them about what they’re doing and see if we can get other people involved in what they’re doing.”

Referring to 3CR’s role as a voice of dissent, Joe says, “If you sow seeds of dissent, there’s no point the seeds falling on stony ground. You want them to fall into fertile ground. And our role I think on talkback is to encourage people.”

Talkback With Attitude also differs from mainstream talkback radio in that the presenters don’t editorialise or bait listeners into talking about a particular topic. “We allow the listeners to set the agenda. And that’s the difference. Whether it’s ridiculous or important, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they think it’s important and they want other people to share what they have to say,” says Joe. “And it’s interesting that by the end on most days, an issue which affects callers is debated.”

“People were suggesting we maybe should have an agenda for what’s happened for the week,” adds Pat. “And so we tried it once or twice, and it didn’t work. Because people still rang up with what they wanted to talk about. We don’t set any agendas.”

However, Pat also notes, “Sometimes Joe gives them homework.”

“They’ve got the time to be ringing during working hours, so they’ve got the time,” says Joe.

“We don’t do things for people,” Joe says. “We encourage them to take the next step and organise around what concerns them. Some people will never organise. They’re just interested in listening to their own voices. Some people - I mean there are what we call the recidivist callers - are there to offer their opinion, they won’t take it any further. But a lot of people who ring once or twice usually appreciate the advice on how to expand what they’re doing or how to make it a little bit more effective.”

The two hosts engage in light teasing, both on-air and off. “They think you treat me badly,” Pat tells Joe. “They say, ‘How could you work with that chauvinist’? I don’t know, they’ve got several names for you.” But Pat enjoys the show and her role at 3CR. “I started on the front desk and just moved up through the ranks. I couldn’t leave the place. You get addicted to 3CR.”

“People think it’s a very easy show,” says Joe. “It is an exceptionally hard show. Because it’s live. We’ve got a twelve second delay but it’s live. You’ve got to be attentive all the time. Because you’ve got to make sure they’re not going to say something which is going to put the future of the station in doubt.”

In seven years of Talkback With Attitude, Joe remembers only three instances when the ‘dump’ button was used. “So we push it to the limit. We do allow people room to move but what we will do is we’ll butt in and redirect people if we think they’re moving in a direction which could be libelous.”

Current producer Robert Missen, who takes the calls and puts them through to the studio, says, “Most callers are very friendly and they stick to what they’re going to say. They’re mostly regular callers so they’re pretty easy to deal with. Most of them don’t take things too far. They know where the limits are, but sometimes, like Joe said, they like to test it out.”

So, what’s the final verdict on 3CR’s talkback callers?

“They’re people who are committed,” says Joe. “They would be the 0.5 per cent of the population that’s actually interested in what’s going on around them, and not consumed by the problems of everyday existence. They look beyond that. And to me they are exceptionally valuable people because they are constantly thinking about what’s happening around them and in some cases trying to do something about it. We may get annoyed. But they’re not pests, never pests.”

By Elanor McInerney
3CR Tuesday Breakfast presenter