Turn on any show featuring political analysis about the upcoming 2024 election, and you’ll hear the same message over and over again: the race for the White House will be decided by a handful of states. Pennsylvania is on that list, and many believe the Keystone State could be the deciding electoral college votes. And in cities like Philadelphia, more and more listeners are tuning into stations like 1210 WPHT and hosts like Nick Kayal.
The hotly contested race between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris provides ample opportunities for Nick Kayal — along with co-host Dawn Stensland and Brand Manager Greg Stocker — to talk about the happenings of the election and how it affects the lives of Philadelphians.
“I think in general, it just really shines a spotlight on this audience, this station, this market, really, because when we look at Pennsylvania, we’re looking at probably two counties that could very well make or break the election in the state,” said Kayal. “We live in an area right by our station called Bucks County, which could swing the election one way or the other,” he added before noting that a county close to his hometown in Easton, Pennsylvania could also be in the same boat. “I think if anything, it really shines a spotlight. Trump has been to Pennsylvania so many times. And to the credit of Harris and Biden, I mean, they’ve been to Philadelphia 27 times in three and a half years. It’s remarkable.”
While those political happenings in city bring more eyeballs to Kayal and Company on 1210 WPHT, Nick Kayal doesn’t believe it dramatically changes the concept of the station’s morning show.
“It’s interesting. I feel like we do have more eyes and ears on the show because of some of the additions we’ve made. We’ve added a YouTube stream in the last year and a half and people are out watching the show across the country,” he noted. “Obviously, on our Audacy app, we have people that have been listening. People have called in from as far down as the Dominican Republic that have relocated. So it’s definitely expanded, especially with how important Pennsylvania is.
“But from a preparation standpoint, nothing really changes. We talk about the big stories on my show, but I know some of the other shows in the midday slots do more hyper, uber-local stuff. And maybe that’s changed for them. But a lot of this stuff that we’ve been talking about, a lot of it does emanate from Philadelphia or from Pennsylvania in general … So it’s almost as if, from a local standpoint, the content almost writes itself.”
Nick Kayal pointed to the 1210 WPHT YouTube stream as one of the biggest drivers of growth for the daypart. He shared that performance with younger demographics, especially men 18-34, has seen month-over-month and year-over-year growth since the implementation of the video simulcast.
That video simulcast coincides with a slightly different approach than what other morning shows in the genre attempt to accomplish each day.
“We kind of go about it differently. I think if you were to listen to our show and then compare it to morning shows across the country in the news/talk format, it is kind of a break from the norm,” admitted Kayal. “It’s not so much one person. It’s a three-voice show, which I think is unique. We kind of bounce around from story to story. Obviously we play the hits. We talk about the things that matter nationally, whether it’s Trump’s assassination attempt or Hunter Biden’s court case or whatever it might be.
“But we also talk about things in the culture wars. We also do some stuff as far as pop culture, entertainment news, and sports. It’s not a super deep dive, kind of wonky national talk radio-type program. If you’re looking for The Sean Hannity Show or the late great Rush Limbaugh, it’s not that style of show. And I think that’s kind of separated us from a variety of shows across the country and even shows on our same station.”
Kayal was quick to give Stocker credit for being willing to take an unconventional approach to the station’s morning show, especially now that 1210 WPHT is seeing the dividends of zigging where others zagged.
“He really wanted just to have good radio. When he took over. I was his first hire, and he was not looking for people with careers in politics, former campaign advisors or elected officials,” Kayal said of Stocker. “He was looking for radio people that had a passion to talk about the subject matter, which I did. And he wanted to go really and attack it from a radio standpoint, and the science of radio: capturing PPM and things like that, to own quarter hours.
“But also, having personality, being entertaining, and not having just the same type of content for for three hours, with the same subject, over and over. So we took it from a different approach. We kind of hit the ground running from day one and we never really looked back.”
Nick Kayal is approaching his two year anniversary with 1210 WPHT. And, despite the added content and focus of the 2024 election on the City of Brotherly Love, he hopes to continue entertaining and informing audiences in the Philadelphia market for years to come.
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.
