Radio host may be eying politics

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WHO-AM Des Moines afternoon talk host Steve Deace wrapped up eight and a half years on the air in the Iowa capital city on Friday. What’s next is a closely guarded secret, but there’s already speculation that he may try running for office.


The parting with Clear Channel Radio is amiable. In fact, management asked him to stay on for two more weeks when Deace submitted his resignation January 28th.

“No members of management at WHO pressured me or asked me to resign and no members of management at WHO ever has,” Deace said in a press release. “In fact, they urged me to reconsider. It seemed they were just as surprised by my decision as many in my audience will be. I am very grateful General Manager Joel McCrea gave me the opportunity to broadcast at WHO and KXNO the last eight and a half years.”

Deace told IowaPolitics.com that he has been approached about seeking political office, but he didn’t disclose what office(s) he might be looking at. The radio host is well-known as a Christian conservative. He ran for Polk County GOP Chairman recently, but lost. That bid for a party office didn’t trigger any FCC equal-time rule, but running for a pubic elective office would.

For now, Deace is setting up his own stevedeace.com website, while temporarily posting on a blog site.

RBR-TVBR observation: Since they talk about politics for a living, radio talk hosts invariably hear suggestions from fans that they run for office themselves. Few actually do so. J.D. Hayworth gave up his talk show on KFYI-AM Phoenix to run for the US Senate in 2010, but failed to win the Republican nomination. Hayworth, though, was a former US Representative, having been a TV sportscaster before serving six terms in the House. Mike Pence was a talk host at WRCR-FM Rushville-Columbus, IN and then Emmis’ Network Indiana before being elected to the House in 2000 and becoming one of the top Republican leaders. He’s now rumored to be mulling a run for Governor of Indiana in 2012.