Do Talk Radio Hosts Have to Be Great Friends to Be Great Co-Hosts?

In 2023, sports talk radio show Toucher & Rich on 98.5 The Sports Hub in Boston went their separate ways after 18 years on the air together.

In the aftermath of the breakup, Fred Toucher admitted on the air that he and Rich Shertenlieb were not friends off the air. Not that they were unfriendly with one another or that they were mortal enemies, but he remains adamant that he hardly knew his co-host off the air.

With dynamics like that, you may question how a show without on-air chemistry could last that long. Except, they had incredible on-air chemistry. They were one of, if not thee, best sports shows in America. The duo was as accomplished as any local show in the format’s history, despite the lack of friendship off the air.

After that development, I began asking those involved in shows with a co-host their views on whether or not a show can be successful if the co-hosts aren’t friendly with each other off the air.

When asked if it was possible to do a great show without being friendly with your co-host, Gee Scott Sr. of The Gee Scott & Ursula Reutin Show on KIRO Newsradio in Seattle, he had a simple answer.

“Nope,” Scott Sr. said with a chuckle. “If you don’t like your co-hosts, that is probably a good chance you don’t trust your co-hosts. Probably the number one, the most important word in co-hosting with somebody doing the show is ‘trust.’

“Because when you say something, you know that you’re saying it, you’re not gonna have to be on the defensive because your co-host’s gonna say something. You actually believe in your heart that what’s being said and talked about is literally for the sake of the show,” Scott continued. “I’ve been in it for 10 years. My opinion is if you don’t like your co-host, chances are you have no chemistry.”

Armstrong & Getty hosts Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty have been hosting their nationally syndicated show together since 1998. Obviously, their lives have changed since the show began, which results in them rarely spending time with one another outside the studio.

However, Joe Getty argued it made the show stronger.

“When we were young, starting out, and a little more footloose and fancy-free, we’d hang out and go to ball games or drink beer and play golf or whatever. But now we each have completely separate lives that we bring to the show. And it’s more material,” said Getty.

Despite the lack of time spent together away from the show, Getty maintained that the bond between the two is as strong as ever on the air.

“I think there’s a feeling of ‘Let’s come together, do the show, and then go live our lives.’ So it’s always fresh. Because, a minute before we go on the air, I’m enthusiastic about the idea of telling Jack what I saw, read, thought, and bouncing it off of him,” he admitted. “He makes me laugh all the time. It’s great, and the only time I get that is on the air.”

Jack Armstrong agreed with Getty’s sentiments, adding that doing a show that’s been together as long as theirs would be insanely difficult if you didn’t like one another.

“If you didn’t get along or didn’t like each other, I think it would be damn near impossible,” stated Armstrong. “There’s nobody else in my life I come close to talking to this much.”

Similarly to Toucher & Rich, the longest news/talk duo in history — John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou of KFI AM-640 in Los Angeles — separated last year, albeit in a much less acrimonious manner.

When asked about his relationship with Chiampou, Kobylt said the two were friends before becoming co-hosts together, and that he just knew the fit was the correct one before they ever took the air together.

“We knew how each other sounded, and it just made sense to both of us it would that we would really be complimentary. I always go by instinct. I have no patience for research, no patience for focus groups, or testing,” Kobylt said. “The public doesn’t know what they like until they hear it in action over a long period of time. There’s no way to test for this sort of thing. I don’t believe in forced chemistry. I have an instinct. And I had one for him, and it worked perfectly.”

So, the folks inside the studio are in almost unanimous agreement that — at minimum — a friendly relationship is necessary to be great together on the air.

But what about from a management perspective?

I asked 95.5 WSB Brand Manager Ken Charles his thoughts on the topic. He wasn’t necessarily in lockstep with those in the studio creating the content.

“There are probably hundreds of examples of great FM morning shows and great tandem talk shows where, other than the time they spent in the studio with a mic on, never talked to each other,” Charles shared. “This is showbiz. And if they have that chemistry, and they have that ability to be great and entertaining together, if they don’t hang out if they don’t drink together, if they don’t share Christmas and family holidays and birthdays with each other, it doesn’t matter.”

Garrett Searight

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.