Talk show host Harry Hurley possesses a genuinely distinct perspective within talk radio. Three decades ago, in a seemingly different era, Harry thrived as a hotel-casino executive under the leadership of former President Donald Trump.
Harry Hurley characterizes his former boss as someone who was relentlessly committed to achieving excellence, in stark contrast to the portrayal offered by the mainstream media. At a certain point, Harry Hurley reached a breaking point in his career and decided it was time for a change. Leveraging his business expertise, he crafted a proposal to present to general manager Dick Taylor and program director John Speeney.
The presentation impressed them, so they spontaneously hired him on the spot. Harry’s enduring determination and strong work ethic, traits President Trump had recognized in him, have paved the way for his tremendous success in radio. After thirty-two years and countless radio broadcasts, Hurley has made a name for himself as one of the elite talk personalities in the business.
Hurley firmly believes that talk radio will take on an unprecedentedly pivotal role in informing the nation about the impending 2024 presidential election. He highlights the 1992 U.S. election, which saw Bill Clinton emerge victorious, as a glaring illustration of what transpires when one side isn’t fairly represented.
According to him, a substantial article in The New York Times criticized the lackluster George Bush economy, which propelled the Democratic president to victory. Fast forward two years, with talk radio surging in popularity and Rush Limbaugh captivating millions of daily listeners, and the Republican party achieved a historic win by seizing control of the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time in four decades. These events marked a watershed moment in how politics were reported and perceived.
Sixteen years ago, Harry Hurley established The Hurley in the Morning Charity Foundation because he believed that he was responsible for giving back to the community as a broadcaster. He will host his annual charity dinner on September 29 at Resorts Casino Hotel in Atlantic City. Brian Kilmeade will join Harry Hurley in raising substantial money for charities at the event.
One of the causes that Harry Hurley is most passionate about raising funds for is the Broadcasters Foundation of America, which exclusively supports radio and television broadcasters in acute need. The Hurley in the Morning Charity Foundation has raised millions of dollars for numerous worthy causes.
In this interview with Barrett News Media, Harry Hurley discusses his path to talk radio, his experience working as an executive for President Trump, what role talk radio will play in covering the 2024 presidential election, how he prepares for a national talk show as opposed to a local one, and why Townsquare Media is leading the way when it comes to digital media.
Ryan Hedrick: How long have you been at WPG Talk Radio 95.5?
Harry Hurley: I have been very blessed to be at one radio station my entire career. I started on July 1st, 1992, and I am still signing on Monday through Friday at the same station I started with 32 years ago.
RH: Do you ever listen to old tapes of yourself to see how much you’ve evolved and where you came from?
HH: Not as much as I should, but I just listened to a tape of an interview I did with President Trump from about 15 years ago. I heard how much, over 15 years, I have evolved. Your voice becomes a little bit deeper as you get older, and you sound different. With experience, you get better at what you do.
RH: What has changed with Atlantic City since you started your show there? What makes the city unique?
HH: Atlantic City has evolved a lot. If you went back 35 years, you’re thinking about a town that is just casino-centric. We came out of the disaster of the Democratic National Convention of 1964, which basically wrecked Atlantic City because the city didn’t manage such a national event well.
What was gratifying was becoming almost a monopoly in the East of casino gaming because only Las Vegas and Atlantic City had casinos. So, it gave a great advantage. We had a monopoly; we were recession-proof. Part of that, though, is a two-edged sword because you can get comfortable. I think we could’ve done a lot more in the first 20 years than we did.
So, you think of Atlantic City as a beach, boardwalk, Atlantic Ocean, and casinos, but we’re very diverse. We have a technology aspect: the aviation technical center (William J. Hughes Technical Center). The other thing that people don’t know about Atlantic City is that more people come to Atlantic City every year than the Magic Kingdom.
We are a small city in one respect but a major destination resort in the other. The city feels small, but it’s also big. We have a lot going on. We also have a lot of universities and medical centers that do great work. We are very fortunate to be where we are.
RH: Your path to talk radio stardom was different; tell us how you decided to switch your career from casino executive to talk show host.
HH: I’m proud of that; I’ve had two careers. I was the senior hotel executive for President Trump at one of his Atlantic City casinos, I always take great pride in that, because I loved my career, and I was a younger husband and a young father at the time. At the time, I decided that I loved my job, I was good at it, I loved taking care of customers, loved the action, loved the decision-making, loved the authority that President Trump gave me.
The only problem was that I was going to end up being a bad husband and a bad father, and that was not acceptable. So, I told my wife, ‘I’ve got this idea; I think I could be good at it.’
There were only two local shows at the time in the market, and I had appeared on both when I was a candidate for local office in my hometown, and I fell in love with talk radio. I loved it and before I fell in love with it. I decided I would go make a pitch to WFPG (World’s Famous Playground); now WPG (World’s Playground), same station, slight modification in the call letters.
I created this nice presentation, and I came without an appointment, and much to my delight, the general manager Dick Taylor, and the Program Director, John Speeney, who I always remembered to remember after all these years, two great guys, and who became great friends, and much to my absolute delight and amazement, they hired me on the spot and away we went on July 1st, 1992.
I decided I’m the new guy and better come out big. No governor had ever appeared on any local Atlantic City talk show, and Governor Jim Florio agreed to come on with me. I knew him from work that I did with him on the Ventnor City Board of Education. He wound up staying for the entire first program I did.
RH: What kind of boss was President Trump to work for?
HH: This is the beautiful thing about this. I get to say what’s true instead of this garbage that we hear all the time. He was a great employer; obviously, he expected excellence. He didn’t demand that we were there seven days a week; we put it on ourselves. It was early in an industry where it had never existed before in our marketplace, and we wanted to be great. We wanted to be four diamonds, four-star, five diamonds, five-star if we could. Doing that required a significant commitment.
As executives, we were always there. It was basically seven days a week. President Trump, the time I was with him, which was about two and a half years before I left for my talk show, was a great employer. Everything that you hear about him is not true. He was incredibly generous, an incredibly good boss, extremely tough, but I didn’t mind that. He was reasonably tough, he wanted excellence, and he settled for nothing less. My time with him was exceptional.
RH: How do you push back against the suppression of news and fake stories in the mainstream media, and how do you earn the trust of your listeners?
Harry Hurley: I inundate my audience with the truth. I am relentless about pounding facts, I have opinions and let my audience know when I am giving my opinions. But when I am giving a fact, for example, Hunter Biden has been under investigation for over five and a half years, and nothing happens, and they were racing to get President Trump into four courtrooms around the country, and they’re breathlessly wanting to start these things in a few months, it’s obvious.
Anyone willing to embrace the truth knows we have a two-tier justice system. It’s an absolute disgrace, and they know President Trump is going to defeat them, so they are coming at him with everything they have. (The media) always have a scam, whether Russian collusion or a big lie. Everything they accuse President Trump of — look at President Biden — twenty or more fake names where there are no bricks and mortars. It’s just a money-shuffling operation. So, I just pound the facts.
RH: The company that owns WPG is Townsquare Media. They focus heavily on and carry out dynamic digital strategies. How do you balance your radio show and produce the digital content they want?
HH: I talk about the digital content when I’m on the air. When I am writing for digital, I reference what we’re doing on the air. It’s not competing; it’s perfectly in concert. Townsquare Media has revolutionized the digital platform in our business. We are new talk media.
Digital is not only here to stay but also incredibly powerful. It’s an amazing way for those that want additional content. We utilize our app very well so that people who want to go back can check out our published podcasts. We podcast everything so that nobody has to miss anything. It wasn’t that long ago that if you missed it, you missed it.
We love digital, but we don’t reveal our station analytics as a company. Our footprint is unreal. We own our market, and I couldn’t be prouder to be an employee of Townsquare Media. I love our focus on both broadcasting and digital. Being an on-air personality is something I love, along with the spoken word format. I was a very young reporter for the Press of Atlantic City a very long time ago. I was one of the youngest reporters in the country with a byline, so I always loved to write. We write multiple pieces of digital content every day of the week.
RH: You also do regular fill-in work for Fox News Radio. How does your preparation routine change when you fill in on national shows?
Harry Hurley: It’s not that much different because I open every day by doing a national hour, so I am very well versed on the national issues, and then we talk about the local issues as well. Townsquare Media is very big on being closely aligned with our community.
I know where I am at the time. If I am guest hosting The Brian Kilmeade Show, The Guy Benson Show, or Fox Across America with Jimmy Failla, I just couldn’t be more grateful to Brian, Guy, and Jimmy. Their producers are unbelievable and have treated me with incredible respect.
RH: Is audience engagement different during one of the national shows than your local show? Do you get more phone calls? More social media interaction?
Harry Hurley: I don’t want for phone calls on my local show. You never want for phone calls on Fox News talk. They have it set up beautifully. Brian [Kilmeade] is on 9-12, Jimmy [Failla] is on 12-3, and Guy [Benson] is on from 3-6. It’s just perfect what John Sylvester (Vice President of Fox News Media), Maria Donovan (Director of Talk Programming, On-Demand Programming), and all their teams have done.
I love working for all of them. Any time they call me to fill in, I make sure I give it all the energy I can because they deserve it.
