1210 WPHT afternoon host Rich Zeoli is one of my favorite news/talk radio hosts in the country. The Rich Zeoli Show is often a balance between humor, cynicism, and sarcasm while still delivering the day’s news and Zeoli’s thoughts on the most pressing topics of the day.
Unlike other hosts, however, he isn’t afraid to dip his toe into the interview waters. He regularly schedules conversations with lawmakers, newsmakers, and fellow media members.
This past week, Zeoli featured an interview with Amie Parnes, a Senior Political Correspondent for The Hill, and author of the new book “Fight: Inside the Wildest Battle for the White House.” In the book, Parnes revealed several interesting nuggets about the transition between President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Those revelations were widely bandied about in the news media sphere last week. So, first of all, it’s a good get for Zeoli to land someone at the forefront of the news cycle.
But what information did Zeoli get from the author of the book that generated plenty of headlines? Let’s find out.
The first question to Parnes was more of a statement from Zeoli — which included his theory that Democratic Party leaders wanted President Joe Biden to debate Donald Trump in June with the hope that he would perform terribly, leading to a new candidate being inserted — and asking the author for further understanding about the situation and her reporting on the topic.
He followed up by asking if there was any one person who “pulled the kill switch” to pull Biden from the race.
The first two questions allowed Parnes to establish her reporting to an audience that might not have been previously exposed to the content of her work. It was good work by Zeoli to allow Parnes to shine at the beginning of the interview, allowing her to build credibility with the audience.
Zeoli then turned his attention to the reporting on Kamala Harris in the book. The reports suggest that few in the Democratic Party — if anyone — wanted Kamala Harris to be the replacement nominee for Biden. The 1210 WPHT host took the only logical stance and question you could ask in that situation: “Why didn’t they do anything to replace Harris off the ticket?”
I’ve written about this before. This is the K.I.S.S. method — Keep It Simple, Stupid — on full display. It would be insanely easy to overthink this question. But that is the question to ask. In my opinion, it’s the only question to ask in that spot, because it’s the question every listener wants to know the answer to. This rarely applies to conservative news/talk radio, but I sincerely believe that at this moment, The Rich Zeoli Show was attempting to be curious and not judgmental. And I’ll always applaud curious and not judgmental questions in an interview.
After Parnes described that many Democratic leaders felt there wasn’t enough time to pick anyone other than Harris and that former President Barack Obama felt differently, Zeoli followed that up by asking why was a decision on the candidate at the Democratic National Convention ruled out and who made the ultimate decision against it.
I always dislike when news/talk radio hosts bring up “the media” (because you are the media, dude) in criticisms. It’s lazy. Plus, those same people will spend precious moments of their shows telling you how minuscule the media’s impact is today, how no one is watching, and how the journalists shouldn’t be taken seriously in one breath, while simultaneously dedicating entire segments to bitching and complaining about what the media does. It’s just stupid, in my opinion.
That being said, Zeoli asked about “the media” and the role it played in the reporting of the 2024 presidential election and the cognitive decline of President Joe Biden. He noted that there had been plenty of criticism of those covering the race for the White House, and asked Parnes about that criticism and the pushback she had received on the book.
I think, in this instance, that’s a fair question. Because legitimately one year ago, much of the messaging out of the White House was that President Joe Biden was as sharp as he had ever been. But the reporting now suggests everyone — from the media to those close to the President, and anyone in between — admits that it wasn’t the case.
After Parnes noted she frequently asked questions about the ability of Biden to continue in the race, Zeoli fell into one of the seven deadly interview sins: remarks. Sometimes, hosts, in an attempt to show how much they know, will word-vomit their knowledge about the topic or interview subject and lose sight of the fact that the person has already agreed to come on the show. They’re here, right now, ready to answer your questions. You don’t need to share your opinion, you need to get their opinion, insight, or analysis. That’s why you brought them on your show! They’re the expert in the situation.
And that was, really, the only real big critique I could have with Zeoli’s conversation. At times, he got a little wordy and opinionated about a topic before asking the guest to share what their reporting about the situation revealed.
The very next question was about how Parnes got access to all the major players and information to write such a detailed account of the race for the White House. I thought that was an outstanding question from Rich Zeoli. Because it’s a question that his listeners are likely pondering themselves. There’s the old adage that “Everybody likes sausage until they see how it’s made.” But I don’t think that’s necessarily the case anymore. People really like to see how the sausage is made today. It helps build a connection when you’re given a behind-the-scenes peek at something.
It also further entrenches the credibility of the guest, which, in turn, legitimizes Rich Zeoli in the eyes of his audience. So for him to ask that question was music to my ears.
If the only large point of contention I can take away from an interview is that the host got a little wordy in the run-up to his questions, I would say he’s doing a dang fine job of running high-quality conversations for his listeners. Bravo to Rich Zeoli. I thought this conversation was a big winner with valuable information reaching to the top levels of the United States government and the power brokers that pull its levels. He deserves high praise for a job well done here.
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Garrett Searight is Barrett Media’s News Editor, which includes writing daily news stories, features, and opinion columns. He joined Barrett Media in 2022 after a decade leading several radio brands in several formats, as well as a 5-year stint working in local television. In addition to his work with Barrett Media, he is a radio and TV play-by-play broadcaster. Reach out to him at Garrett@BarrettMedia.com.
