Pittsburgh native Kevin Battle is as blue-collar as they come. As the co-host of the legendary KDKA-AM Radio morning show, Battle’s diversity, and willingness to try new things has served him well. In addition to radio, he has worked in sales, marketing, public relations, and customer service.
In between stints in Baltimore and New York City, Battle worked selling motorcycles while juggling a part-time position at the now-defunct all-news station WNEW FM in Washington D.C. It was there that he learned about a position at Fox News Radio that would eventually prepare him for the opportunity to return home to work at a station that he grew up idolizing.
Battle’s radio career began after he graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. He was hired by Clear Channel Pittsburgh to work at its six-station cluster where he would spend the next eight years sharpening his skills in production, digital dissemination, and promotions.
In 2011, CBS Radio hired him to program and re-brand the station now known as 105.7 The Fan. He credits his time there for helping him realize the parallels that exist between sports and news talk. Recently, Battle sat down with Barrett News Media to discuss his journey to become the co-host of the KDKA-AM Radio morning show with Larry Richert and what he learned from his time in the Fox News Radio newsroom.
Ryan Hedrick: You were a sports programmer in Baltimore for several years. How and why did you make the transition to news/talk radio?
Kevin Battle: My contract was not renewed in Baltimore because things changed. So, after that, I found myself on the outside of radio looking in. I started selling motorcycles part-time and then I landed a part-time job at WNEW 99.1 FM in Washington D.C. After a year, somebody told me about a position in New York at Fox News Radio.
At the time I sent my resume up, they just happened to be putting together a SiriusXM broadcast called Fox News Headlines 24/7. They needed a lot of people and they needed them quickly. My lease was coming up on my apartment and I had two part-time jobs that didn’t mind if I was going to leave on such short notice.
RH: When you were programming the sports station in Baltimore what was your long-term goal?
KB: I had always been a news junkie. I was somebody who grew up in the news, my first job was with the Pittsburgh Press. I grew up in Pittsburgh, so sports are just drilled into your head. Before I started programming sports in Baltimore, I was out of radio again because of circumstances and the way they presented themselves.
In 2008, I was selling real estate when the economy collapsed. At the same time, Baltimore was re-branding its politically motivated FM station to sports talk. You can run a sports station just like a news station. That’s what I did. We focused on the hottest topics of the day and we spoke passionately about them. Our ratings jumped from 16th to 2nd.
RH: How did your experience at Fox News Radio set you up for the opportunity to co-host a morning show on KDKA in Pittsburgh?
KB: The people at Fox were phenomenal, I couldn’t have asked for a better group to work for. There is a lot made about the network’s politics, but I worked in the newsroom and in that environment they just wanted the facts and they wanted everything correct.
RH: What are the main differences between your job at Fox News Radio and your current position at KDKA-AM?
KB: I am the co-host of the KDKA morning show. I book guests and I help cultivate the topics that we will be discussing. KDKA is uber focused on Pittsburgh, it is Pittsburgh, and we try to represent Pittsburgh all day and every day.
When I was at Fox doing national radio, there was no local touch. You kind of gloss over the regions and you gloss over the big stories of the day. When you are on the network you lose touch with the listener. At KDKA, I have felt the energy from the local listener from day one.
RH: Take us inside the process that ultimately got you hired at KDKA-AM.
KB: It was interesting because I knew the programmer at the time who was Jim Graci. He called me and said “I didn’t know if you noticed, but we have a job opening at KDKA.” I went through the interview process but by no means was the phone call a guarantee that I was going to get the job, it was just an invitation to apply. I took a week off during Christmas break to meet Larry [Richert]. I met him 20 years ago, but he didn’t remember me. At that point, we had never worked together. Management wanted me to do a live on-air audition and I couldn’t do that because I was working for Fox at the time and there was an affiliate station in the same market. So, we went into a side studio and we did some breaks, and everything went smoothly. I was nervous as heck because it was KDKA, Larry is a legend, and I wanted to come home.
RH: Recently, Barrett Sports/News Media reported that KDKA PD Jim Graciis out of a job. What is your environment like working without a program director?
KB: What’s happening now is that P.J. Kumanchik who is the news director is a phenomenal guy, he is the heart and soul of KDKA. P.J. has been with the station for almost 30 years. He knows every piece of equipment, every button, every schedule, he knows everything that there is to know about KDKA. You have so many great professionals with so much experience, it’s like something is missing but nothing is being dropped.
