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By JAN LOOMIS, Special to the Daily Transcript
Tuesday, September 10, 2002
Local talk show host Roger Hedgecock has found that talk radio is often the first place that people turn to when national tragedy strikes.
"I've been doing this show for 17 years now and every national tragedy has brought a surge of listeners to talk radio looking for information, a place to have their say and a way to take action," he said.
Predictably, the response to 9/11 was immediate and ran the gamut. Listeners wanted to discuss their fears, show their concerns and finally express their rage at what happened. "Our number of listeners went up dramatically, taking our ranking from No. 8 in our size market to No. 1. The same surge of listeners was evident on talk radio shows all over the country," Hedgecock said.
According to Hedgecock, after listeners had vented their rage and concern, their next thought was, "How can we help?"
"Our listeners wanted to take action and as an outgrowth of that desire to do something, we formed Operation Homefront," he said. This grassroots organization developed out of the surge of patriotism listeners felt, and the needs they saw among San Diego military families. Hedgecock is pleased that over the last year Operation Homefront has provided a transmission for an ailing car, purchased an airplane ticket for a kid who needed to join his recently transferred family, fixed washing machines and "made a difference to military families on a daily basis."
Hedgecock will be in New York for the anniversary taking part in the tributes and describing events for listeners in San Diego. As the anniversary approaches, he has seen interest wane a bit locally, becoming more historical and philosophical. Hedgecock reports that, "Without another incident, safety concerns have dropped and listeners have begun to take a longer view."
He also thinks that the Westerfield case diverted interest here in San Diego. "No doubt the 9/11 anniversary will rekindle interest, but probably at a lower level as people begin to put things into perspective," Hedgecock said.
Loomis is a free-lance writer based in Poway.
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