Radio remains influential in political campaigning

melissa harris-perry. this is democracy plaza here in rockefeller center where the 2012 election results will come in for nbc news. there are going to be thousands of folks out there. you got to join us. this week, the number of television ads aired in the presidential campaign topped one million. that's up nearly 40% from 2008 . so far obama for america outspent the romney campaign by more than two to one. that's just on the tv. but there's another airwave raging. and that's the radio airwaves. radio ads may be particularly influential in the last days of the 2012 presidential campaign because they have the ability to priek micro target voters at a low cost. for those who haven't turned on the barrage of tv ads, radio can sometimes captivate the ought jens.

>> joining me is joe madison , known as the black eagle who can be heard every weekday morning coast to coast on sirius xm satellite raid ydiradio.

>> thank you for joining us.

>> thank you for the acclaim.

>> joe, i want to play an ad for you, a radio ad for you. i had this claim that radio is a little bit freer space. people can say things on radio that they wouldn't necessarily say sion. it's called black men vote.

>> they think he's dumb, lazy and the best food stamp president ever. it's disrespect. it's not right. and if they think these things about president obama , can you imagine how dumb this president is? what do they think about you? black men time to stand up for ourselves. vote for president obama . black men, this entire election might come down to ohio. women are already voting in high numbers . we need do our part. vote for barack obama today. if you don't vote, mitt romney may win and we will have to hear more comments like this. no one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. they know that this is the place that we were born and raised.

>> that's not an ofa radio ad . but the very fact that that ad is targeting black men, talking specifically about this ashialized analysis of the president. it talks about the women are out there voting. we got to go. if that were on television, i think people would have strong emotions about it. on radio , you get your listeners.

>> you're absolutely right. again, television is multidimensional. people might say, i don't like the complexion of the men they use, look at this or that or the city. where is that? the one thing about radio that's true and always has been, it is theater of the mind . i deliberately sat and listened and concentrated. my mind just immediately, i created my own images. i created my images of romney and my images of black men going out and voting and responding to this. and the other thing is, it's a drumbeat. look, tom joiner, joe madison , steve harvey , al sharp ton, you name it. the group of us, bev smith . it's not that we talk every day. it's that we have similar experiences and we really have been the drumbeat. i'm being honest. i think that black talk radio in particular has driven this vote early campaign.

>> yep.

>> because it's been a constant and i'll use the term, a constant drumbeat that no matter where you turn, that's what you're hearing and that's what's driven this. to the point that the obama administration has used it effectively. you know, it's interesting. you don't find, melissa, you don't hear drug commercials on radio . you know why?

>> were?

>> because at the end, it's required. you have to tell-all the things that drugs will do to you. so you can't do that on radio . if you have a drug commercial and it says you have asthma you'll die of this and that, it has an entirely different impact. so i think that it has been very effective and the obama administration has done something that the romney people have not done and that is to use radio , particularly black talk radio , as a way to make dents into our community and next time around the republicans better learn the lesson.

>> it's interesting what you're saying there. i'm a big radio listener in the morning because i drive my daughter to school and home and i get a fair bit of -- i listen to a lot of local urban radio . there's something about that sense of connection, like with television, i feel like that's some person out there who doesn't know anything about me. when it's your local radio host talking about your street corner and the things going on in your community and then says go out and vote early, that feels like it has sort of a relevance. like your neighbor knocking on your door.

>> you're absolutely right. somebody who has a national morning. i'll have to get you a sirius xm radio to listen to. the point is, you're right, you know the person. you think you know the person. radio is very intimate. it is and always has been. i can't tell you how many people think they know me, think they know that local personality. and you belong to them.

>> yeah.

>> you belong to them.

>> i was going to say, i got to let you gojo. i am personally as a new orleans resident mourning the loss of d.j. chicken and big aid in the morning. it makes me -- i can barely wake up. thank you to joe madison in washington. up next, the single most defining moment of the entire campaign. i'd like