We’ve all been in “just get through today” mode at one time or another. For Bill Cunningham, he had a wider vision: get to his 40th anniversary at 700 WLW, then consider retirement. He hit that milestone in August of last year and has no plans to hang up the headphones anytime soon.
“iHeartMedia has told me I can stay as long as I want and just give them three months’ notice if I’m going to leave. And, obviously, that day is coming,” admitted Cunningham. “I’m closer to the finish line than the start.
A two-time Marconi Award winner for Large Market Personality of the Year, Bill Cunningham currently hosts from 12-3 PM on the venerable Cincinnati news/talk station. Additionally, he hosts a syndicated program on Sunday evenings, which is distributed to more than 300 stations across the nation.
“You know, Father Time is undefeated, untied, and unscored upon. I just turned 76 years old, but I feel like 36 most of the time,” continued Cunningham.
He added that he has a pact with 700 WLW Program Director Scott Reinhart that if he begins to lose his fastball, he needs to be the second one to know.
“I said ‘Look, if I’m slipping, if I’m not connecting, if people aren’t listening and advertisers — and I’ll know that first — don’t want to have me voice their spots, and I’m not relevant anymore, would you tell me?’ He said absolutely.”
Despite being 76 years old and in the same market and station for more than four decades, Cunningham — who was recently named the top mid-market midday show in Barrett News Media’s Top 20 — shared he hasn’t lost his passion for talk radio.
“Everyone does it a little bit for the money but I’m doing it because I enjoy it. I love it. I like being part of events,” he said. “I’ll play it by ear and if somehow I become a babbling idiot, or a derelict, I would assume I’ll find out and I can still say ‘Ladies and gentlemen, see ya, wouldn’t want to be ya,’ And I’ll go off into the sunset. But at this point, I enjoy what I’m doing.”
One of the prominent talking points in news/talk circles is questioning where the next crop of future stars will come from. It’s a feeling shared by Bill Cunningham.
“At some point, you have to find the next Bill Cunningham. Or the next Mike McConnell, or the next Eddie Fingers… I’m thinking ‘Where are they coming from?’, because I often say to our station management ‘You’ve gotta find the next Willie’, and I’m being told ‘There’s not a next Willie.’ And I say yes there is. I’m important but I’m not indispensable. There are other people out there, you just gotta go find them.”
Like Cunningham, Scott Reinhart also took home a top spot in BNM’s Top 20, earning first place in the Mid-Market Program Director rankings. The longtime Cincinnati host praised the leadership ability of his boss, and shared dealing with news/talk hosts brings out an entirely different style from the manager.
“He’s wonderful because he says ‘How can I help you?’,” Bill Cunningham said. “And normally a PD considers himself to be the boss. Like, ‘I’m telling you what to do.’ But when you have Mike McConnell, Eddie Fingers, Rocky (Boiman), Scott Sloan, and me, I’ve never been told one time what to cover (or) what not to cover.
“I’ve never been told what to say or what not to say. I’ve been criticized, all the time, but nonetheless, it was constructive type criticism…Scott Reinhart understands that with some of the FM’s he controls is much more direct and what’s going wrong, but when it comes to AM and to us, he is assisting us to do better instead of telling us what to do.”
It’s no secret that AM radio has experienced challenges in recent years. However, 700 WLW remains one of the band’s strongest brands, reaching ratings success the station hadn’t seen since the late 1970s earlier this year. Cunningham believes the success can be attributed to familiarity not just in the lineup and the station’s content, but inside the community as well.
“There’s a little bit of a difficulty because of a lack of cogent personalities and connection to the community. It’s very unusual to have an AM station for the 40 years that I’ve been there to stay on top the entire time with different personalities. But I’ve been the only constant for 40 years,” admitted Cunningham. “And the reason it happens is that we try — and I think we’ve been successful — in connecting closely with community members and community organizations for years and decades.”
Bill Cunningham pointed to organizations that are closely associated with Cincinnati — like Procter & Gamble, Western & Southern, and Fifth Third — as mainstays in the community, and 700 WLW is right alongside those major brands.
“I get emails all the time from people who say to me, ‘I’m 35 years old. I now have three kids, but I’ve spent my entire life listening to you.’ And somebody else will say to me ‘You know what? I’m telling my teenage boys and girls to listen to you. Because you make sense. And you touch the community.'”
Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing bi-weekly industry features and a weekly column. He has previously served as Program Director and Afternoon Co-Host on 93.1 The Fan in Lima, OH, and is the radio play-by-play voice of Northern Michigan University hockey. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
