The age-old adage is “You Can’t Go Home Again.” Bruce St. James of 92.3 KTAR News in Phoenix is a living rebuttal to that notion.
St. James departed the station in 2020 after a decade, most recently serving as the midday host on the Bonneville International station. He then transitioned to mornings on the legendary WLS-AM 890 in Chicago, replacing Mancow in the Morning.
However, his stint in the Windy City was a short one. After 16 months, Bruce St. James departed the station to return to the Phoenix area, without a full-time job in hand.
All of that changed earlier this year. As part of a daily lineup shuffle, KTAR paired St. James with the already established afternoon stalwart Larry Gaydos for Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos from 4-7 PM.
St. James told Barrett News Media it’s good to be back.
“It’s a homecoming. I feel comfortable there. And I really think KTAR is a destination radio station and people want to be there,” said St. James. “People stay there for long, long periods of time because of how they treat people and because of how they do radio. And I just feel very lucky to be a part of it.”
“I feel very fortunate that kind of the stars aligned with KTAR and myself,” he later added. “We found ourselves kind of looking for one another at the same time. I’m grateful for that.”
Before coming to the Valley to work for the venerable news/talk station, St. James — a former Program Director in his own right — had previous stops in Los Angeles and San Diego in addition to his time at WLS-AM 890 in Chicago. And working in those other markets gave him an appreciation for the way KTAR and its parent company operate.
“I’ve never take it for granted that Bonneville and KTAR just flat do radio different. I think people who haven’t worked in that environment would have difficulty understanding it. I feel like it’s a bit of a throwback. You know, I’ve been doing radio long enough that I got to work for companies like Nationwide and Emmis, that I thought also kind of did radio different,” said St. James. “I think Bonneville affords us a real luxury to be able to serve a community, to make a difference in our community, and to do radio that matters. And it’s not solely about how much blood we can squeeze from a stone.”
In his return to the Phoenix news/talk station, Bruce St. James is paired with Larry Gaydos. A fixture at the station, Gaydos has been with the outlet for more than 25 years. And while one could assume it might be an intimidating environment — joining an already established show — St. James admitted it’s been quite the smooth transition.
“I have literally known Gaydos for 20-something years. We’ve worked in the same building, worked on the same station, and passed each other in the hallways. So we had a relationship from that standpoint. I think that made it a lot easier to step into his studio and become a partnership,” St. James said. “Anytime you put more than one person in a studio — you’ve heard the old adage it’s like a marriage. ‘How are they going to work together?’ It’s been surprisingly easy.
“Maybe I’m a ‘Negative Nellie’ or I’m a pessimist but, I assumed it would be rockier. It’s been really, really easy. We mesh really well. And that’s not always obvious until you kind of do it.”
As any member of a team show will tell you, trust is an imperative quality needed for any program to work. Bruce St. James was quick to point out the trust he and Gaydos have built in just a few short months working together in the daypart.
“We respect one another and we trust one another. We’re really open and have honest conversations. We had a conversation about mental health issues on the air, and you can’t do that if you don’t trust the person you’re sitting next to.”
92.3 KTAR News isn’t your typical news/talk station. While many similar stations feature a strictly conservative perspective to the air, KTAR focuses much more on the talk portion of talk radio. It’s a style St. James appreciates, noting that — in his view — there’s a very real difference between FM talk radio and AM talk radio.
“There’s a huge difference,” he stated. “Not to belittle my AM brethren by any stretch, but I don’t think anybody woke up today and discovered the AM dial. Listen, FM is struggling enough. I think AM is headed in a completely different direction and certainly needs some sort of a general overhaul, but it’s not going to happen until the last listener dies off. I just don’t I don’t see them bringing a new audience, and I don’t see them talking about the things that — I’ll use the term the average American — the average person is talking about.
“In our market here — and again, I’m not privy to the last specific number, so don’t hold me to it — but we’re 20-something years younger on average than our AM talk station,” Bruce St. James said. “You know, we are 60/40 male/female they’re 80-something percent male. It’s a different audience. And when we think of what we do, we’re competing with the music stations. We’re competing with AC or competing with the country (station) for ears. We’re not competing with political talkers. That’s not our competition. We don’t see it like that.”
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.
