ADVICE FOR NEW TALK HOST QUESTION FOR DAN O’DAY: I recently hired a new sports host, who replaced a long running host who had started to get past his "use-by" date. A significant part of the show is talkback on sporting issues. I'd appreciate your advice to a new talkback host on generating calls. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. DAN REPLIES: Stake out a strong position on specific issues, thereby polarizing your audience into two groups: those who agree with you and those who disagree. The stronger you make your case, the more effectively you will stimulate listeners to call...either to endorse your opinion or to set you straight. If you sense that your own opinion on an issue closely matches that of the large majority of your listeners, use what I call "The Third Party Technique"; present the minority case either by quoting a specific individual or by referring to "others": "A representative of the Society to Ban Salad Dressings says he has proof that....." or "Personally, I agree with (Caller). But what about the people who say that in clinical tests, X has been shown to cause Y?" When you have a choice of topics, always choose the one with the most emotional content...the one that listeners will respond to with passion. When a topic "takes off" with your listeners, go with it. Do not insist on cutting short a hot topic in order to stick to your own prepared agenda of topics for the day. The best way for any radio host to generate phone calls is to put good phone calls on the air. And there are specific techniques you can use to attract, create and generate such calls. I offer a comprehensive audio seminar on this subject, entitled POWER PHONES.