Late last month, WBAL NewsRadio host Torrey Snow departed his afternoon show after more than five years with the station.
After joining the station in 2019, Snow was added to afternoon drive in 2020. But all good things must come to an end, and Snow made the difficult decision to step away from the program he built during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a conversation with Barrett Media, Torrey Snow said it was the right move at the right time for him and his family.
“I’m at a stage in my life where I have to really start thinking about my family,” said Snow. “I’ve got kids headed to college, things like that. So ultimately, that was when I started thinking that maybe — given the direction of things — I might need to start thinking about what an alternative plan looks like.”
Despite exiting afternoons, Snow remains affiliated with WBAL NewsRadio as a fill-in host. He shared that he was adamant that he wanted to keep that door open with the station, despite leaving his afternoon show.
“It was just a business decision for my family at that point in time,” he added. “That was the priority: if there needs to be a transition, how do we do it in such a way that there’s still a nice, healthy relationship to show how grateful I am to WBAL … I loved the show right up to the end. I put 110% into the show.”
Snow looked back on his tenure as afternoon host at WBAL fondly, calling it one of his career highlights.
“It is probably going to be my proudest accomplishment that I stepped into a role during a very difficult time,” said Snow. “It was during COVID that I started, and I was literally broadcasting from my bedroom, which had challenges of its own. But in the midst of all of that, the fact that I was able to come away — and leave that time slot in a really dominant position — is something I’m extremely proud of.”
Despite making the decision to leave news/talk radio behind for his family’s sake, Torrey Snow joked that he couldn’t stay away from media.
“Once you get the broadcast bug, you just stay bitten by it. It never actually goes away,” he said.
That’s why he launched Snow in the Know, a YouTube channel featuring his thoughts, ideas, and policy advocacy in the greater Baltimore region.
“One of the challenges is an observation I’ve made is that while traditional broadcast forms of media will always be around — and I’m certainly counting on that being the case when I reach retirement age — there’s an urgent need for digital media communications, especially from rational voices,” said Snow. “The algorithms reward extreme content, and anyone familiar with X or YouTube can attest to how that content is distributed.
“I really believe it’s important to develop a presence on those platforms. Launching my own channel isn’t something I’m counting on to pay the bills or cover a mortgage, but I do hope it grows into something meaningful. Ideally, we can create an online platform where people can consume the same kind of content they got on The Tory Snow Show but now get it on Snow in the Know.”
While having your own digital program offers a blank canvas, Torrey Snow admitted that “it is a double-edged sword.”
“The great thing about traditional talk radio is that you can focus entirely on the show, and you have a built-in infrastructure,” he shared. “There’s also a built-in audience to some degree, so all you really have to do is focus on content. The trade-off is that — when it comes to topic selection and the things you can explore — much of that is governed by the news cycle. You have less control.
“Moving to a digital platform — and producing content far less frequently — is a big shift. There’s a major difference between talking for 20 hours a week and doing a one-to-one-and-a-half-hour podcast,” he continued. “With the podcast, I have a lot more control over what I talk about. I can choose subjects I’m passionate about. I don’t feel as much pressure to stay locked into the news cycle. Sometimes the news cycle is fun to engage with, but other times it can take you in directions you don’t really want to go. You’re just a passenger on that train … Working at WBAL was very comfortable, reliable, and steady. You have less control, but in return, you get more security.”
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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.
