A couple of weeks ago, Jeff Wagner announced his retirement from 620 WTMJ Radio, with his final show occurring on December 15th. Wagner elaborated more on why it was time to walk away from radio in an interview with NBC affiliate WTMJ4.
“You just know when it’s time, and this for me, it’s time,” Jeff Wagner told WTMJ4’s Charles Benson. “It’s been wonderful. Not too many people can say 25 years in their hometown on the same radio station in essentially the same time slot.”
Nonetheless, one of the critical points that Wagner hit with Benson was how different the political scene is from when he started on radio 25 years ago. Wagner notes that the tribalism occurring now would make it challenging for him if he were starting in radio.
“Things have gotten so much more tribal,” the soon-to-be former WMTJ radio host said. “There’s no nuance anymore. When I started out, I always wanted to do an intelligent show. Let’s elevate the discussion.
“If you’re a fan of Donald Trump, he can do no wrong. If you’re an opponent of Donald Trump, he can do no right. It gets frustrating after a while because you can’t elevate the conversation. You can’t have any nuance.”
Eduardo Razo is the Assistant Content Editor for BNM, which includes writing daily news stories on the news media industry. He can be found on Twitter @eddierazo_ or you can reach him by email at eddie1991razo@gmail.com.
