Franklin D. Roosevelt first used what would become known as fireside chats in 1929 as
Governor of New York. His third gubernatorial address—April 3, 1929, on
WGY radio—is cited by Roosevelt biographer
Frank Freidel as being the first fireside chat. As president he continued the tradition, which he called his
fireside chats. The success of these presidential addresses encouraged their continuation by future presidents. The practice of regularly scheduled addresses began in 1982 when President
Ronald Reagan started delivering a radio broadcast every Saturday. Conservative journalist
William A. Rusher, who publicly urged Reagan to begin the series of broadcasts, explicitly referred to the "fireside chats" and compared Reagan's communications skills to those of Roosevelt. During a sound check in preparation for his radio address of August 11, 1984, Reagan made the following comments in jest, which were later leaked to the general public: "My fellow Americans, I'm pleased to tell you today that I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever.
We begin bombing in five minutes."
George H. W. Bush did not regularly record a weekly radio address; he recorded only a total of 18 addresses during his term in office, most toward the latter part.
Bill Clinton regularly recorded a weekly radio address, often going over ten minutes with some speeches early in his term.
George W. Bush was the first president to deliver the weekly radio address in English and Spanish, which he continued to throughout his presidency. Later,
George W. Bush began to have his addresses posted as an audio
podcast once that technology became popular. Barack Obama used YouTube for regular video addresses as President-elect and
after his inauguration the weekly addresses continued on the
White House website, the official White House YouTube channel, and networks such as
C-SPAN, with the
24-hour cable news channels and
network morning shows usually airing the full address only if the topic involves a breaking news event; short summaries of the address and the
talking points within were otherwise edited and presented within regular news reports throughout each Saturday. Until his final broadcast, Donald Trump continued to use the video address as his predecessor did. His weekly address also webcast on
Facebook as a
live stream, releasing the address on Fridays instead of Saturdays. It has long become customary for the president's Weekly Radio Address to be followed by a response from the
opposition party. When the president is a
Democrat, the opposition's response is given by a
Republican and vice versa. This response is not limited to only responding by the subject of the president's address, but may address other topics of political or social interest, a tribute to a figure who has died in the last week, a general patriotic message on holiday weekends (the latter two of which can also be part of the presidential address), or other concerns working through the
Senate or
House which have not yet been addressed by the
executive branch. Despite the discontinuation of the president's weekly addresses, the Democrats still continued their weekly address through the remainder of the Trump administration. A common complaint about the president's Weekly Radio Address pre-digital age (but remaining in the mainstream) is that only a few radio stations (mainly public radio and
all-news radio outlets, a format very rare outside of major metropolitan areas) cover the very short broadcasts, they are not advertised publicly, and very few Americans are able to find address coverage on their local radio dial; Saturday mornings usually have
brokered or
paid programming carried on most commercial radio stations. ==See also==