When drive-time fans of WMAL’s O’Connor and Company tune in, they don't directly hear the voice of the show's executive producer, Heather Hunter, but she has a profound effect on what they do hear. She feeds constant tips to “the talent” and, since she knows absolutely everybody, is able to book VIP guests. Hunter often finalizes a topflight guest after the show is on the air, necessitating a seamless reconfiguring of the line-up.
“On the morning show,” says Hunter, “a lot of our audience is driving to work. They’re looking to find information and also to be entertained. They are starting their day, and so we are a mood-setter. It's not just politics. We talk about things that are happening in everyone’s lives, like the parents’ movement that is happening in Northern Virginia, which for our listening audience is what is happening in their own backyards.”
WMAL’s coverage of the school board meetings in suburban Virginia that pitted parents against imperial school officials was enormously important in keeping the issue in the forefront of public consciousness.
It is life on a merry-go-round: Hunter gets up at 3:00 a.m. to start preparing the line-up for the show that kicks off at 5:00 a.m. and often finds herself watching school board meetings over dinner and grabbing sound bites for the next morning’s show.
She is married to Derek Hunter, another conservative and prominent Baltimore radio host whose commentary appears in Townhall.
We know you will enjoy meeting Heather and getting a glimpse into the glamour and grit in the daily life of a top radio producer.
