Some things in Louisville are institutions. Completely synonymous with the city. Louisville Slugger, Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby, bourbon, and the Hot Brown Sandwich. 840 WHAS is also on that list, and Nick Coffey is keenly aware of that fact.
It’s why he’s giving up his decade-long sports show to take over Kentuckiana’s Morning News when longtime host Tony Cruise retires at the end of the month.
Late last week, the venerable iHeartMedia Louisville news/talk station revealed that Coffey will step into the chair vacated by Cruise’s retirement beginning at the start of next month. And Coffey wasn’t shy about his excitement to take the reins of the program.
“It’s something that still hasn’t quite hit me just yet and almost almost doesn’t seem real,” Coffey said. “As somebody that is that is from Louisville — born and raised, and I now raise my family here — to be able to be morning drive on Kentuckiana’s Morning News, just saying it out loud, it almost doesn’t seem real. But I’m super excited. I know it’s gonna be a little bit of a different type of gig than what I’ve had for the last roughly 10 years doing sports within our iHeart Louisville market, but it’s really really exciting. I’m overwhelmed by the amount of people who have supported me along the way and really shared my excitement about the news.”
Nick Coffey shared that he hadn’t ever really considered making a move away from sports talk radio until roughly 18 months ago, when he was approached by those inside iHeartMedia wondering if he’d ever be interested in working at 840 WHAS when the time came for Cruise to step away.
But, as time goes on, and Father Time keeps ticking, we find ourselves more interested and invested in things that we hadn’t been previously. And that was true for Coffey, who will turn 37 later this summer.
“I never once thought about it, just because sports has always been my passion. It’s been a big part of my life,” said Coffey. “So, it was really something I’d never given much thought about at all. But then once it was put on my radar that they thought I might be able to bring something to the table as far as just somebody who knows Louisville and has lived in my whole life … I’ve grown up in the last 10 years and you find yourself being more interested in having stronger opinions on things that you didn’t used to really pay much attention to, but you do now as you get older,” he admitted.
“So once they threw it out there in front of me, I started to think about it and I realize ‘Well, clearly just by bringing it up there’s some level of interest on their end that they may think that I would be worthy of that.’ From then on, I just kind of started to think about it more and more, and I realized it would be silly not to fully pursue that opportunity if there’s interest on their end.”
Some making a switch from sports talk radio to news/talk might view the change negatively. A move like that can be made for a variety of reasons, which can be demoralizing. But Nick Coffey said the switch to 840 WHAS is the exact opposite for him.
“I’m energized by making that switch,” he shared. “Sports, of course, will still be talked about to an extent of talking about things that go on in our city, in our state in this country. It won’t be as difficult as I might’ve thought because I do have thoughts about things that maybe don’t typically come up on a sports show. So it was a total shock when it was first put out there, but really since then — probably for at least a little while each day — I’ve kind of dreamed like ‘That would be really special.’ I’m ready for that kind of challenge.”
Coffey said one of the biggest challenges in shifting from afternoon drive on Sports Talk 790 AM to morning drive on 840 WHAS will obviously be the change in lifestyle that comes with working in mornings. Kentuckiana’s Morning News begins at 5 AM, so Coffey will hope to be at the studio no later than 3:30 AM.
But the change in daypart wasn’t a hindering factor for Nick Coffey. Knowing what a station like WHAS means to his hometown made it all worthwhile to tackle the new opportunity.
He did admit, however, that there were times of apprehension.
“I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t a couple of moments where I questioned, ‘Do I have the ability to do anything other than sports as far as broadcasting and content?’ Because it’s really all that I’ve ever done and it’s really all that I’ve ever wanted to do, until I grew and realized I’m energized by talking about things that I wouldn’t typically talk about on my daily sport show,” Coffey revealed. “So, I think knowing that the show has already been well established, there’s already things built into it, and knowing that they have believed in me to kinda take the reins and continue the outstanding program that they’ve had in the morning for generations, that energized me and it motivated me that they believe in me to wear that.
“That apprehension kind of went away a little bit, and then I got the opportunity to to fill-in in for Tony Cruise a couple of times during the holidays. And without really knowing it, I suppose that was somewhat of a trial run, and there were nerves there that hadn’t been there for me in a long time to start a broadcast. It’s kind of in a way made me feel alive again.”
Tony Cruise has been at 840 WHAS since 1992. His name — like other Louisville institutions — has become synonymous with the Gateway to the South. And while Nick Coffey knows that he’ll be following in the footsteps of a radio giant in the city, the soon-to-be 37-year-old hopes that his age will help bring in a younger demographic.
“WHAS wants to reach a younger demo than they’ve typically got in years past and I feel like with my age range, I’m now in a good spot where I’m not this young guy fresh out of college that they just assume ‘What does this young kid know?’ I’ve been in the market long enough, I’ve been married 14 years, and I have two children that are young,” said Nick Coffey. “I think when you raise your family in the community that you’re listeners are in, they’ll feel the level of reliability … It’s such a big opportunity that I’m gonna make it work or die trying because that’s how that’s how special it is.”
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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.
