Shutdown? The Story Changed, But The Hunger Didn’t. Radio’s Response and Opportunity.

Our eyes and ears were fed daily news updates about food-insecure Americans. When the leaders decided it was time to stop the debate, the government reopened, and the food benefits returned. But the news cycle found a new shiny object to grab the headlines.

The story changed, but the hunger didn’t. Okay, that’s a catchy line. However, it sets up the purpose of this blog. Radio and fellow media outlets and organizations have an opportunity to respond beyond the news cycle.

I can predict one of your comments. “Yeah, faded stories won’t get us clicks if we’re not focused on the big headlines of the moment.” My reply would be, “You’re right.” However, this content category is something I call SCC: Sustainable Community Content.

The hold on SNAP benefits during the 43-day government shutdown created an opportunity for media outlets to initiate one of its greatest strengths: Organized Community Reaction.

Consider how some of these radio stations initiated food collection programs when it became obvious the longest government shutdown in U.S. history wasn’t going to end after a few days:

• Contemporary Christian Music, 91.9 WGTS, Washington, serving a community affected by the shutdown on numerous levels, teamed with Streetlight Community Outreach Ministries in Virginia, and La Plata city officials in Maryland to collect more than 7,000 pounds of food in late October and early November.
• Urban Contemporary, V-94.9 WATV, Birmingham, threw a Feed The Block party hours before a vote to end the shutdown.
• Rock, 93.3 WMMR, Philadelphia, Preston & Steve’s Camp Out for Hunger saw a 27% increase over last year’s donations, according to the Philabundance final tally.
• Small market independent operators noticed a difference, too. Vidare Creative officers Paul Goldsmith and Bill Scott hosted the Thanksgiving Radiothon last week for WKOM and WKRM, Columbia, TN. Listeners contributed $77,000 to The Well Outreach. Those funds, the most the event has ever produced, provide a week’s worth of food for 2,500 Middle Tennessee families.
• Heritage programs noticed increases, too. Contemporary Christian Music, The House FM, Oklahoma City, doubled the amount of turkeys its listeners donated for the 15th annual Feed a Family three-hour event.

“Almost half of what we gathered in a year went out in six weeks during the shutdown,” – Jared Mitchell, Convoy of Hope

The audience reacted to the need because media outlets publicized the big story of the day, uh, make that 43 days. However, the need was verified by non-media outlets, such as Convoy of Hope.

The organization provides food, community outreach, and disaster relief worldwide. It was on pace to deliver nearly 800 semi-truckloads of food in 2025. When the shutdown happened, Convoy committed to delivering 10 million meals by the end of the year. 

That’s an additional 400 truckloads of food gathered by Convoy of Hope in 2025, according to Jared Mitchell, Senior Director, Radio & Donor Engagement. “Almost half of what we gathered in a year went out in six weeks during the shutdown,” said Mitchell.

When the rapidly evolving news cycle changes and the biggest story of the week falls off the newsroom story budget, the headlines change, but the needs don’t. 

Food banks across the country, according to a USA Today story last week, have significant budget gaps after distributing excess food during the shutdown. This becomes the opportunity for media organizations to look beyond the headlines to create Sustainable Community Content.

“We put 1 million more pounds out the door this week than we did last week. And it was 500,000 more the week before than the previous week.” – Catherine D’Amato, Greater Boston Food Bank

Greater Boston Food Bank CEO Catherine D’Amato put it in perspective during an NPR story Thursday morning. She said cuts to housing, Medicaid, and insurance will put pressure on the system and affect food. That’s an opportunity for radio brands to step up for the long game.

Radio has always been good at mobilizing and quickly reacting to community needs. As the original on-demand medium, radio has proven to be an informational outlet and an audience organizing platform during natural disasters and human catastrophes. However, the news cycle has changed our consumption habits.

1. Platform Fragmentation: The shutdown was THE story for six weeks. But many stories go unnoticed because the audience gets its news from other sources like TikTok or YouTube.
   • Opportunity: Your audience may be heavy users of Facebook and X, but someone on the content team needs to pay attention to TikTok and Bluesky to get a wider view of opinions.
2. Continuous Content: News and Entertainment are always available on those fragmented platforms. Therefore, the new story is ready to make the story of the day a 24-72 hour item.
   • Opportunity: Radio’s curation time is shorter. Respond faster on social media and on the air.
3. Creator Economy: Everyone is a news reporter in 2025. Got a phone? You’re a reporter. To my fellow J-School colleagues, I typed that line with a high degree of sarcasm. But it places an overwhelming amount of content into the information economy.
   • Opportunity: Your staff just grew. Find creators who are happy to share and repurpose content to keep your brand in the moment.

Finally, let’s not forget radio’s attraction to a creative promotional name opportunity when it’s time to mobilize and get attention.

When the SNAP benefits story started to get attention, Tony Zazza, founder and host of the Zazza Nation network, created ZNAP, Zazza Nation Assisting People.

The on-air donations continued in the days after it was announced that the shutdown had stopped, and the benefits would be hitting accounts soon. Zazza started hearing from people who had not received updated benefits, so his listeners stepped up.

“Listen to your audience and let them tell you what’s going on out there,” said Zazza. “Not the news cycle.”