It has been a long time since Stugotz has done morning radio. That changed on Thursday when he started the first day of a two-day run on WFAN filling in for Boomer Esiason.
He told Gregg Giannotti that the memories of the grind came rushing back immediately. Maybe working at your dream job changes things, he acknowledged, but the hours you have to keep mean the job never really gets easier.
“I have a theory on morning radio and morning radio hosts,” Stugotz said. “I think they age at a more rapid pace than US Presidents.”
Giannotti agreed citing legendary WFAN morning man Don Imus as an example.
It is more than just the hours that are put into the job. Stugotz says part of what wears a morning host down is any attempts to have a life.
“It’s unbelievable how you guys are able to do this and then be expected to be a parent after this or my husband after this or go play golf.”
Giannotti countered that getting into shape helped make things easier for him. He said that he is down 50 pounds from last year and that has helped him to feel rested on just five hours of sleep each night.
Stugotz said the only thing that can really fix the effects morning radio have on a host’s health is to leave morning radio.
“I have a friend who did mornings for five years,” he said. “He aged in a way, like more rapidly than Obama did when he was in office for eight years, okay? He was 30 years old. He looked like he was 51. Then he stopped doing mornings and two years later he looks 35 again.”
Hopefully two days aren’t enough to completely derail Stugotz. He will be back on WFAN with Gio on Friday.
