Meet The Radio Governor

For Florida's Rick Scott, radio interviews prove to be safest

From Michael C. Bender, Times/Herald Tallahassee Bureau

Gov. Rick Scott is in “Heaven.”

He adjusts the headphones, clears his throat and pulls closer to the microphone in the studios of WHBT-AM, “Heaven 1410.”

In a half-hour at the obscure gospel station, Scott talks about his favorite foods and what it’s like to be rich after growing up poor — all while avoiding questions about his controversial policies that aim to create jobs by increasing corporate profits.

For a governor who is about as popular as the summer humidity, radio appearances like this are as close to paradise as he’ll find outside his faithful inner sanctum.

In the past four months, Scott has been on the radio more than 130 times, including 10 appearances last week.

That’s more than all of his other pre-scheduled media interviews combined.

In politics, TV appearances drive poll numbers up and down. And television coverage is often influenced by print media.

But for Scott, it’s the radio that gets most of his attention.

“These are fun,” Scott told the Herald/Times after the gospel show.

“We’ve done country-western. We did sports. We’ve done a lot of talk radio. I’ve done top 40,” Scott said, staring into the distance trying to remember it all.

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