Last month, 620 WTMJ paired Kristin Brey with Steve Scaffidi as part of a lineup shuffle for the Good Karma Brands Milwaukee news/talk station.
On the surface, an outsider could view the pairing as an unlikely one.
Brey is a liberal millennial woman. Scaffidi is a conservative boomer man.
And yet, the two had instant chemistry, according to Brey, who said the reason she’s in radio in Milwaukee in the first place is do to her now partner.
“When I first got back to Wisconsin and I started doing different social media stuff, he invited me to come onto his show,” said Brey.
After meeting for coffee, Scaffidi had a grander idea.
“He was like ‘Why don’t you just come on once a week?’ And so for over a year, I was coming on his show on Wednesdays for once a week, which started as like a half hour, turned into an hour. Then I was filling in for his show when he was off,” Brey explained. “I think it actually was a missed opportunity from the get-go of pairing he and I together back then. Because we just had an instant rapport, really good chemistry, could get along really well. That started way back when he first had me on his show.
“The fact that we’re doing it now it feels awesome,” she continued. “It’s so easy and effortless to do a show with him every day. I think that’s just the personal side of it, as far as what our relationship is and how easy it is to just talk to each other and have an interesting conversation together.”
She added that despite the differences in gender, generation, and political leanings, the show is still an interesting listen.
“On paper, we are very different,” she noted. “There’s a built-in tension when it comes to how we see the world, a positive tension, and tension instead of just a pile on like we agree with each other all the time, but yet it always comes from the foundation of friendship.”
Brey credited both her partner and herself for utilizing their thick skin and trust in one another to make the show successful.
Kristin Brey recently celebrated her one-year anniversary of rejoining 620 WTMJ, this time in a full-time capacity after previously working at the station in a part-time role. For the majority of her first year with the Milwaukee news/talk outlet, she was paired with Brian Noonan, who exited the station amid the lineup shuffle. She gave credit to her former partner, saying she enjoyed her time hosting a more news magazine-style program with him, but believes a show more focused on opinionated talk fits her style better.
“I was outside of my comfort zone doing Spanning the State (her show with Noonan), it wasn’t all politics,” said Brey. “It had a limit of trying to focus on Wisconsin stories … I was trying to be more objective. It was less of a talk show, not approaching things from my opinion on this. I think that stretched me and lot of my ability to make interesting radio. Especially since I was on topics that weren’t the biggest stories of the day. It was kind of like NPR with a little bit more personality. But I think it was really good to do that because it stretched me in my broadcasting ability and how to approach radio and how to approach topics.”
News/talk radio is dominated by conservative voices, mostly from men, on either solo or tandem shows. So Kristin Brey shared that she appreciates getting the opportunity to bring a different voice and perspective to the airwaves alongside her friend from 10 AM to Noon.
“I think it’s very unique what we’re getting to do,” she concluded. “Not just because of the ideology differences, but because of the gender, because of the age. I’m very glad that we get to do this before whenever that guy decides that he’s gonna retire,” she joked. “So at least we get to do this until he decides to hang it up. But he’s got a lot of energy, so I don’t know when that’s gonna be.”
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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.
