Rich Zeoli raised eyebrows earlier this month by announcing that he was departing his afternoon drive show on 1210 WPHT in Philadelphia to launch a nationally focused podcast.
Now, he isn’t going far. That new podcast is airing on the news/talk station from 6-7 PM, which Zeoli is grateful for.
An unabashed lover of the talk radio format and genre, Zeoli said he was motivated to leap to the podcasting realm by seeing how prevalent the on-demand nature of the game has become.
“It’s about giving people options in this day and age we live in,” he said. “There are some people that will get in their car, and they want to turn on the radio and hear the radio. They can hear me on the radio. There are other people that want to hear me when they want to hear me. I’ve had — in the last couple years — notes from people who say, ‘I caught your podcast this morning’, meaning the podcast version of my radio show. They’ll listen to it in the morning versus the afternoon. I think what this model does is it just accepts the reality that we are in an on-demand world.
“If you want to listen to the classic radio show, if you want to listen in your car, or on your radio at home, you can. You can also listen when I’m live-streaming it. Or you can listen to it five hours later. That’s the beauty about this day and age, and that’s what people want. People want to be able to hear the content when they want to be able to hear it. We’ve never lived in a time like this before where you can deliver that and the audience can get it and not have to worry about, ‘Oh, I missed the show today.’ There should never be an excuse to miss the show.”
The Rich Zeoli Podcast is streamed live at 2 PM ET each weekday. He’ll still remain a prominent figure on 1210 WPHT, making weekly appearances on various shows, in addition to his new program airing at 6 PM ET.
Zeoli said he was forced to look at the future of his career when making decision about what lay ahead. And he believes this is the best option for him moving forward.
“As much as I love talk radio and doing my radio show in Philly, I said, ‘I have to think about the next 20 years of my career.’ So I have to also find a way to get into this. Now, the conundrum was, I’m doing a four-hour talk radio show. I’ve got 3 kids. I got a puppy, I have a wife, I also didn’t want to then do a podcast, so I had to find a way that I could accomplish both, but still have a manageable life.”
Zeoli heaped praise on 1210 WPHT for their support and for accommodating the new endeavor.
The differences between a four-hour news/talk radio show and a one-hour podcast are stark, Rich Zeoli noted.
“When you’re doing an hour you have to be very sharp and concise,” Zeoli said. “You have to make sure that you’re getting your points in, and you have to be mindful of the fact that you’ve got to cover what you’re passionate about and give people everything. When I say everything, I mean, give them your 100% perspective on that. Also, to do it in an entertaining, informative way.
“It forces you to really think in terms of, ‘Ok, I don’t have four hours here. I’ve got an hour. So I’ve got to make sure that I am really crisp with what I want to say.’ So it actually forces me in a way to be an even better host, knowing that I’ve got to get my points across in a limited time versus having 4 hours to kind of develop it over the show and think about it,” he continued. “I got to make sure in this hour, I’m giving my audience everything that I’ve got and holding nothing back in the locker room. That’s forcing me to actually even work harder, prep harder, and I think it’s making me a better host, in all honesty.”
When asked what the most challenging aspect of launching a new podcast has been, Rich Zeoli laughed and said, “Soundproofing a room, believe it or not.” But he believes that the relatability of not producing the show from a stale studio, but rather a home office where three young children, that aforementioned dog, and his wife live help connect with the audience.
“It’s a lot harder than you realize to make sure that the acoustics are good when you have, 3 kids and a new puppy. And we’re getting our bathroom renovated, too. I just incorporate that into the show. So, if you hear my kids come home from school and the door slam, or the dogs barking — I mean, I brought the dog in and have him sit on my lap. I think just incorporating real life into that, which is also how I’ve been doing my radio show for the last 10 years. The audience knows my life. They know my kids, they know who I am, and I don’t hide from that.
“So, if I’m doing a segment and there’s a ‘Daddy!’, which has happened, I go, ‘Well, hang on a sec. My five-year-old needs me. Let me grab her.’ That’s what I’ve always loved about talk radio. It’s the same thing, I think, with podcasts, if you’re doing it right. I believe that I’m talking to one person at a time. I’m not delivering a show to a mass audience. It’s one individual listening at a time, and I’m talking to that person directly. And I want that person to know me and know my life, and then we form a connection, and we form an intimate bond. That is something that I think is so unique in this genre, and I don’t think that there are a lot of podcasts out there that don’t do that.”
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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.
