Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels (R) recently caused a brief uproar by suggesting that the Republican Party needs to expand its base by reaching out to less-active and less-pure conservatives—“those who never tune-in to Rush or Glenn or Laura or Sean.” Not surprisingly, many conservative talk hosts were miffed by what they perceived as a slight. But notice that Daniels didn’t suggest abandoning conserva-talk fans, but simply reaching out to a broader yet compatible segment of the electorate.

I won’t pretend to know if that’s a smart strategy for the GOP. But I will suggest that it makes sense for talk radio. In this age of increased competition and smaller available audiences, why wouldn’t a talk station, especially an FM outlet, try to expand its appeal? Yes, radio is a niche medium, but have we allowed the talk niche to be defined too narrowly over past decade? I’m not suggesting that any station should drop successful conservative fire-breathers like Rush. But I question the wisdom of building an entire line up of fire-breathers who address the same topics from the exact same place on the ideological spectrum all day long. Why not reach out to right-of-center listeners who are interested in politics, but not obsessed? This is the ideological pig-in-the-python. Give this huge potential audience an entertaining line-up that covers a broad spectrum of topics (a.k.a. “real life”) across the day with a conservative sensibility and you’ll have a winner.

I realize this is a controversial notion. That noise you just heard was TRN’s Phil Boyce blowing multiple gaskets and hoses. He’s a fanatical believer in doing scorched earth conservative talk 24/7. On the flipside, Bonneville seems to have adopted a broadening philosophy at KTAR-FM/Phoenix and KIRO-FM/Seattle. WSB/Atlanta has long had tremendous success with a line-up that goes from an all-news morning show to libertarian Neal Boortz to consumer advocate Clark Howard to conservative dragon Sean Hannity.

On a related note, I’m wondering if the day of the all-knowing, never-wrong talk show host is over. After a day of flipping around the radio and cable dials, it occurred to me that such hosts suddenly seem passé. The financial crisis did much to undermine people’s faith in experts and gurus. We long ago lost much of our belief in institutions such as government and organized religion. Why would we believe that a talk host has all the answers? The current public mood is best captured by hosts who have a set point of view but are self-aware and self-deprecating enough to say, “But, hey—maybe I’m wrong.” Jon Stewart epitomizes this type of host. Michael Smerconish has the potential but has yet to establish a reliable point-of-view.