The dominant news station in St. Louis was supposed to interview a pair of Democrats Thursday morning, and neither one called in.

Volunteers searched for a substitute for the missing guests -- Democratic operative Lanny Davis and Rep. Carolyn McCarthy of New York -- but the station only wanted a big name, and none could be found.

"That's bad. That's very bad," says Kandy Stroud after hearing what happened. "KMOX is a huge station."

It's a huge station in a major city in a swing state. As manager of "Talk Show Row", it's Stroud's job to get the party's message onto the airwaves.

But when one spinner disappears, another walks through the door. Here's Lois Pines, a delegate from Massachusetts, and she's ready to talk.

It's a constant juggling. Sure, faithful Democrats support Al Gore, but not many of them want to talk about him on the radio at 6 a.m.

And when they don't show up, Stroud and 30 volunteers hunt someone else to spread the Democratic word to some 60 talk shows that have set up microphones along Talk Show Row.

Stroud, who runs the Democratic National Committee's radio operation, also tries to help out shows that aren't in Los Angeles, such as KMOX.

With a day to go, they've arranged nearly 300 appearances -- members of Congress, cabinet secretaries and Democratic strategists. And when they don't show up, the volunteers themselves sit down at the microphone.

Radio, around for nearly a century, isn't exactly the hot medium. But all the political Web sites put together don't reach as many people as CBS radio's Jim Bohannon, with some 7 million listeners, or the American Urban Radio Network, which reaches 10 million people.

That's how Stroud -- a former talk show host herself -- sells radio row to the Democratic powers that be.

Seventy percent of talk radio listeners vote, she tells officials and press secretaries. Forty percent are swing voters.

Even people who listen to conservatives like Bohannon or Oliver North, who's also holding court on Talk Show Row, reach independents who can be persuaded, Stroud said.

She lined up dozens of people to speak for Gore before arriving in Los Angeles, but that doesn't mean the operation always runs smoothly.

Early in the week, talkmeister extraordinare James Carville was stuck in his hotel, standing up a string of shows.

And when Pines, from Massachusetts, showed up the Boston station she was matched with was already off the air.

That left the volunteers to find someone else who might like to talk with Pines. "I'm a surrogate for the vice president," Pines said proudly. "I'll do anything, anywhere."

Pines, a former Massachusetts state senator, landed with veteran Los Angeles talk show host Michael Jackson of KRLA, who asked her about the Republican convention. "They're good on talk, not on delivery," Pines said, off and running with the Democratic message.

Stroud strolls through the convention center. She finds James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, happy to talk to a few stations. She passes a spokesman for the convention, who tells her that legendary Democratic fund-raiser Terry McAuliffe is free that afternoon. Her cell phone rings. It's an aide to Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md. He'll stop by in a few hours.

Arriving back at Talk Show Row, she comes across yet another high-profile guest, but this is one her volunteers did not sign up: Jim Nicholson, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

"We've been doing quite a bit of radio here," he tells her.

She doesn't doubt it.