What US Presidents have been on talk shows?

Answer 1

First, it should be noted that "talk shows" as we understand them today (where listeners can call in and speak directly to the host and guests) did not really exist till the late 1950s/early 1960s. There were presidents who were on the radio as early as the 1920s: Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover. In the 1930s, Franklin Delano Roosevelt became known as a "radio president" for his frequent and effective use of radio. But due to technological challenges, the communication was often one-way. The president spoke, the public listened. (There was one program, America's Town Meeting of the Air, which began in 1935, and it make some effort to get listener voices into the conversation, but it was not easy to do back then.) When TV came along, candidates took their campaigns to the viewers, while still continuing to be heard on radio, but TV political talk shows did not gain popularity till the 1970s and 1980s.

In the modern era, nearly every president has been on talk shows at one time or other. Some prefer "friendly media"-- Republicans will go on conservative programs, Democrats on liberal or moderate programs. Many presidential candidates will be heard on networks perceived as neutral, such as CNN, and sometimes they will go on a local station if there is a local issue that is affecting the campaign. Both Barack Obama and Mitt Romney have been on radio and on TV, being interviewed or taking questions from audience members, as did their predecessors.