Scott Rizzuto is the host of “The Rizzuto Show” on 105.7 The Point, St. Louis. The show has been on the station for eleven years and was recently voted by peers as the number two Alternative show in Barret Media’s Top 20 Of 2024. The New York City native moved to St. Louis in 2003.
His first radio experience was as an intern at K-Rock WXRK in 1998. He stayed on and worked in the promotions department, then moved to WHTG for a while before working at Sirius Satellite Radio.
When an opportunity opened at The Point in St. Louis in early 2003. Rizzuto’s friend Woody Fife, who he worked with at K-Rock, and who was doing afternoon drive at The Point, asked if he was interested in moving to the Midwest. Rizzuto met with PD Tommy Mattern, fell in love with the station and the city of St. Louis and hasn’t left since.
“I started out doing nights on The Point,” explains Rizzuto. “I briefly did afternoon drive, and in 2006, I moved to mid-days and became music director. A new opportunity arose when my good buddy Woody came back to The Point in 2009, and I had a chance to team up with him for ‘The Woody and Rizzuto Morning Show.’ We had a blast! We dominated the market, and I had the chance to learn how to do mornings.’ There was no better teacher than Woody.”
“After a five-year run, Woody left for Los Angeles in 2014 to become the biggest syndicated radio host in the country, and I stayed back in St. Louis. For some reason, Tommy Mattern had the confidence in me to let me continue doing mornings as ‘The Rizzuto Show.’”
After a few lineup changes, including the untimely death of co-host Jeff Burton from Prostate Cancer in 2022, the full show now includes Moon, who has been with the show since the beginning and is also the guitarist for the legendary ska band Goldfinger, Lern Elwell who joined in 2023, Rafe Williams, a touring stand-up comedian who also joined in 2023, and King Scott.
“One of the best things about our show is that we don’t play characters,” says Rizzuto. “We’re all ourselves on the air. People see through a phony. You ever watch a YouTube video and say, ‘That’s fake!?’ I hate that! We all have unique personalities, and we all bring something different to the table.”
“I’m the curmudgeon who likes to stay home and sees the negative first in everything. Moon is our sensitive rock star that the ladies love. Lern is the sassy bleeding heart that loves cats and isn’t afraid to tell me to go eff myself. Rafe is quick with an irreverent one-liner or a funny story about growing up dirt-poor in a small town in Southern Illinois. King Scott is one of the kindest human beings you’ll meet. He is very religious and was a virgin till the age of 39 when he got married.”
“The Rizzuto Show is your distraction from what’s going on in the world today. We never talk politics. I like to keep it light,” insists Rizzuto. “There’s a certain edge to our show, but it’s never mean-spirited. I also like to keep it local. People in St. Louis love to hear about things in St. Louis.”
“ Sure, we talk about our local sports teams, but we also talk about local restaurants, community happenings, and things that our listeners are dealing with and can relate to.
“We are St. Louis through and through, and I know it’s something that’s appreciated. Syndicated shows just don’t work in this town. They’ve tried. I love being part of what makes this city great. If I could bring some joy to someone’s otherwise miserable day or existence, mission accomplished.”
With such a big cast on the show, it’s got to be quite a task to keep everyone focused, but Rizzuto says everyone has their different responsibilities, and they all stay on track. “For example, Lern will write her celebrity news segment up,” explains Rizzuto. “Moon will gather up all our emails for a segment, and Rafe will come up with contesting for prizes.”
“I get to the station at 3:15 every morning. I set the show schedule. I start researching interesting topics for the day, things that I think would make for good, interesting, and funny discussions.
“Rarely do I tell my crew what we’re going to talk about. The team is so talented that their natural reactions to things is what makes the best radio. I also love to push their buttons and bust their chops, so letting them know beforehand would ruin the magic, in my opinion. Sometimes, I’ll be sitting at my desk before the show chuckling, and I’ll hear someone say, ‘Uh oh!’ knowing I’ve got something up my sleeve.”
As for balancing career and personal life, Rizzuto says it can sometimes be a tough road. “Thank the lord I’ve got a very understanding wife,” he adds. “This job seeps its way into everyone connected to us, in the biz or not.”
“I’ve got two teenagers at home who have to live with the fact that their dad talks about his personal life on the air. When I get home, I’m dad. I make dinner. I’m the hockey dad who cheers for his son’s team. I’m the cheer dad who attempts a high ponytail on his daughter’s head before a football game.”
“I try to the best of my ability to be present for my wife and kids. I just have a weird job with very weird hours. Yes… I talk about my life and that includes being a dad, but I also know that I don’t have to share everything. My kids didn’t choose this life; I did.”
One of the biggest challenges the show has faced over the years was when they lost Jeff Burton to Cancer. “We were all, obviously, devastated,” says Rizzuto. “He was a great friend, a great co-host, and a BELOVED member of the community.”
“The outpouring of sorrow, love, and support from the people in the city is something that I can’t even describe. Jeff was on the air up until he physically couldn’t do it anymore. He’s still mentioned on the show almost daily. Listeners continue to offer their condolences and stories about how he touched them in some way. I miss him and think about him every day.”
As for how the business has changed since Rizzuto started, “When I first got into radio, we were still pulling carts and CDs. The first studio I worked in didn’t even have a computer or a way of getting onto the internet,” he says. “But listeners have more access to us now than ever before. Way back when, when you wanted to take a break, you could just put the phones on hold. Now, with social media, instant feedback through the station app, a text line… it NEVER STOPS.”
“With that being said… all that stuff is great if used correctly, like mining for stuff we can use on air. It can also be a great big distraction. I’ve had show members get lost in some of that stuff, and I have to snap them out of it.”
“But everybody has a voice now. Everybody has an opinion. Now, there are a million different ways to tell a host how much you LOVE them, and you LOVE what they’re doing. There are also a million different avenues for people to tell you how a bit SUCKS, or you SUCK, for that matter. I’ve learned that you take the good AND the bad and use it all.”
Rizzuto has mixed feelings about the use of AI in the radio business. “A couple of years ago, when people were RAVING about AI Ashley doing middays at a station in Oregon, I was super pissed,” he says. “Why would anybody who is on the air be excited about something that could potentially replace you? Remember when there was no such thing as voice-tracking and every daypart needed to have a live human in-studio? I do.”
“On the other side of things, I understand that something like ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini could be used as a tool to help with writing and on the creative side of things. I’ll use AI to summarize articles for me if I need something in a pinch.”
“Maybe I’m just stuck in my old ways and haven’t fully wrapped my head around the whole AI thing yet? Maybe I don’t fully know how to utilize and harness its power. It could be that I’m just a middle-aged man shaking my fist and yelling at the clouds. How will this impact our business? Unfortunately, I think that AI Ashley is coming for a lot of jobs.”
As far as what’s ahead for The Rizzuto Show, “We’re always trying to come up with something new. Hubbard Radio has put a lot of resources towards podcasting and video production. We’ve got a couple of video series rolling out this year,” explains Rizzuto. “For example, The Rizzlympics and a couple of new podcasts, A music podcast called ‘Story of the Gear’ with Moon, and a sports gambling podcast called ‘The Spread Zone.’”
“And every year, we do a live stage show where we have 2000 of our closest friends out at a concert venue. We call it ‘Rizz Show Live.’ This isn’t just five stools, a couple of microphones, and we’ll see what happens. This is a full-on production with confetti cannons and music bits. The yet-to-be-announced 2025 version will be bigger and better than ever. Stay tuned.”
Follow The Rizzuto Show @RizzShow on X, Instagram, and Facebook.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
Charese Fruge’ is an award-winning Content, Broadcast, and Marketing executive with over 20 years of experience in markets like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, San Diego, and Las Vegas. As the owner of MC Media, she works with radio brands and individual talent, especially young women, helping them grow their brands and negotiate on their own behalf. She is also a Voice Actor and Voice Over Talent as well as a Freelance Writer for International Broadcast Outlets. Find her at @MCMediaOnline or www.mcmediaonline.com.
