Some of the best talk radio hosts were originally on the other side of the phone calling in to their favorite station. 610 WIOD host Manny Munoz is one of the lucky ones working at the very station he called into as a kid.
“I was always a news junkie,” said Munoz. “I loved listening to some of the political talk shows down here.”
The native South Floridian recalled, “I used to call some of the talk shows so often one of the producers talked me into taking a semester off [from college] to go to a [radio broadcast] technical school. I never even went back to finish getting my degree.”
Munoz went on to be a successful news producer, editor, and later, was an executive producer for the Miami Dolphins Radio Network and the Miami Hurricanes Radio Network.
He bounced between WINZ and 610 WIOD before becoming the operations manager and program director for what a startup sports talk radio. “It lasted about a year and a half before it went under because of funding and financial problems with the ownership, stuff like that. But then I came back to WIOD Working News in 2001.”
Later, Manny Munoz was producing and co-hosting the morning show before being given his own slot from 9 AM to Noon, recently expanding after the station added The Ryan Gorman Show to morning drive.
“We talked about the vision for the show. It would be live and local and not necessarily focused on local issues, but stuff that would be important to South Florida,” Munoz said. “I said, ‘As long as I can take calls, I want to be able to talk to the listeners.’ To me, more than anything, that’s what makes it live and local and I think that’s what makes a radio special.”
A large part of what Munoz is doing with his show is giving everyone one a voice, not just one political side. Making the show less about him and more about you the listener because the last thing this veteran wanted to do is cash-in on what he calls the ‘Outrage economy.’ “What they do on cable news, just highlighting the differences and focusing on that and the fighting and setting it up, this faux outrage. I think it’s so bad. It has hurt me to see what’s happened in the country.”
While he doesn’t perpetuate the bad behaviors of political extremes, it doesn’t mean he’s immune to the attacks from political extremists. “It’s funny because if somebody is calling me a MAGA apologist and then [someone else calls me] a closet liberal, I think I’m doing a pretty good job being who I am,” Munoz noted of the critics.
The long-time producer turned host has now given life to a program allowing people to have a form to disagree respectfully. A sentiment even his critics appreciate. One of his ‘hate-followers’ even noted, “I don’t like almost anything that [Manny Munoz] says, but I love that he gives me a forum to talk to him about it.”
Of the guest’s respect for each other and their host, Munoz noted, “Rarely has it gotten ugly with anybody. That was the one thing I wanted to do by taking the calls is be able to have those disagreements politically, culturally, whatever the issue might be, to have the disagreements respectfully and maybe have some fun with it because it’s just it’s gotten so ugly, the rhetoric in our country so heated.”
Manny Munoz said there is a difference between the way callers react to each other versus on social media, “Doing it on the phone, it’s a little bit different and doing it specifically to someone who’s interacting back with you that’s different so you see a little bit of a different tone [than you do on social media].”
The 36-year radio veteran saw the early rise of social media, “It’s different for an anonymous person on their phone to just post some crap on social media and attack somebody. Social media has given people the authority to throw out civility and common courtesy.”
It’s more than just the way people interact with each other, over his career Munoz has seen a change in the way news is gathered. “Sometimes a story will come across and only one person will be reporting it, or it will only be on social media, and we all have to stop and wonder, is that real? Especially in this day and age, because you just don’t know. It might come from a legitimate source. But you never know these days whether stories are real. Because I think everybody because it’s so easy to get news out there.”
It’s not all bad Munoz believes it’s giving an opportunity to connect with people who wouldn’t normally call in. “Not everybody likes calling into a talk show. Right? And so I’ve I learned to be able to use that as a different way to interact with the lovers and the haters.”
Over the air and on social, the message he’s putting out there is simple and important for those who get wrapped up in politics to remember. “The tornado of of us vs. them and the enemy of the people is absolute garbage. We might disagree or believe differently about issues, but because you have a different political view than I do doesn’t make you any less of an American. It doesn’t make you my enemy.”
For those callers looking to jump behind the mic, Manny Munoz’s advice is simple, “Give a crap. Take pride in what you do, especially in radio. It’s always been said, ‘Get your foot in the door.’ Something that I’ve always found important and has allowed me to progress in my career is no matter who the boss has been, no matter what station I’ve been at, is to never say ‘That’s not my job.’”
One additional piece of advice the 610 WIOD host shared? “Always be willing to learn, and I hope that you learn something new every day. But like I said, you can teach the technical stuff. You can’t teach somebody to give a crap. Just take pride in what you do no matter what it is.”
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Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
