For more than two decades, Armstrong & Getty has carved out a lane in talk radio that few competitors have managed to replicate. Jack Armstrong and Joe Getty didn’t chase a format that already existed — they built their own, and stuck with it even when the industry pushed back. That stubbornness, paired with a genuine curiosity about the world, has turned into one of the more durable partnerships in the business.
The duo’s success comes down to a simple idea: talk about what actually interests you, and trust that an audience will follow. Armstrong pointed to a recent piece in The Free Press as proof the appetite for that kind of honesty hasn’t gone away.
“The Free Press did have a good piece the other day about influencers and podcasters and that sort of thing, on how there seems to be a hunger out there for people who are perceived as telling the truth,” Armstrong said. “Even if you don’t agree with their opinion, you just want to know that they’re being honest about it, and that’s always been our thing.”
That honesty extends to how they’ve adapted their format for a podcast-first world. Radio conditioned hosts to repeat themselves because audiences turned over hour by hour. Podcasts don’t work that way, and Armstrong has noticed the shift in how he and Getty structure a broadcast.
“We definitely repeat stuff less than we used to when we were only a radio show,” Armstrong said. “In the day with radio, you’d do a three- or four-hour show, and you don’t have the same people in hour four as hour one, almost guaranteed. Whereas with podcasts, you might, so we repeat stuff a lot less, definitely.”
A Show Built on Doing It Their Way
Getty echoed that same instinct when he described why the pair stopped trying to fit a preexisting mold. Early in their careers, they experimented with formats other people wanted, and neither found it fulfilling.
“I think we decided very early in our careers — decades ago — that we were going to do it our way,” Getty said. “And if we failed, we would never wonder, ‘Gosh, I wonder what would happen if we’d done it our way.’ If you fail doing it according to somebody else’s recipe, you’ll never know. So it’s kind of been part of our DNA as a show from the very beginning.”
Armstrong described a nearly identical turning point from his side of the mic. Consequently, both hosts trace their independence back to the same lesson learned in music radio.
“That was a lesson out of music radio when we started together as a team,” Armstrong said. “We did a couple of shows the way other people wanted, and that didn’t work out. You don’t want to leave the industry having never tried your act, so we decided we’d do what we wanted to do, and luckily that has worked out.”
That refusal to imitate has occasionally cost them opportunities, according to Armstrong. Stations chasing a Rush Limbaugh soundalike weren’t always interested in two hosts who sounded like nobody else on the dial. Still, he believes that same trait now works in their favor.
“I think it definitely holds us back at various times, where stations — especially back in the day — wanted a show that sounded like Rush or whatever, and we don’t sound like somebody else,” Armstrong said. “But I think that actually benefits us now. I’m not sure it did 20 years ago.”
Balancing Two Very Different Audiences
Running a show that lives in both the radio and podcast worlds requires constant calibration, and Getty admits the balance isn’t always perfect. Radio still comes with a clock, language restrictions, and a listening pattern unlike anything podcasts demand. Getty said the team talks about that tension often.
“The restrictions of radio — whether it’s the clock or language or the way people listen — are different from the podcast world,” Getty said. “So we try to balance what we do so that, if possible, we serve both audiences. It’s an evolving process. I don’t know if we’re doing it exactly right, but we’re doing our best.”
Getty also pushed back on the idea that the show blends into the rest of talk radio’s crowded lineup. Instead, he described Armstrong & Getty as something listeners can’t easily categorize, for better or worse.
“Our show is different. We’re not just another one of those, dot, dot, dot, that seem to just clog the airwaves everywhere,” Getty said. “Somebody going through the motions, thinking they know what the audience wants, and just serving it up to them like cheap hamburgers. You do not tune in the Armstrong & Getty show and say, ‘Oh, another one of those.’ You might say, ‘What the hell is this? Or why are these guys doing geopolitical analysis and making crass dick jokes?’ But it’s not the same old thing, and that’s probably our greatest strength.”
What the Future Holds
Neither host frames the show’s longevity around money or ego at this stage of their careers. Getty said he’s largely made peace with that part of the business and now measures success differently.
“This may come off as precious, but we’re at the point in our careers that I don’t need much more for my ego,” Getty said. “I don’t particularly need much more money, although I certainly enjoy it. I actually care a lot about what we’re talking about, and I appreciate the platform.”
That sense of purpose comes through in how Getty talks about the country’s current moment. He views the show as a genuine outlet for engaging with issues he’s studied since he was young.
“The reward, to me, is doing the show,” Getty said. “The ability to knock ideas around and talk about the issues that confront the country — some of the sociological issues, some of the political movements. I’ve studied them since I was a teenager, and there are movements right now in the American electorate, in the body politic, that are crazy interesting and troubling, historically speaking.”
Armstrong shared a similar sentiment when describing what motivates him after decades on the air. He credited a recent Jerry Seinfeld interview for putting into words something he’s felt for years. “I was watching an interview with Jerry Seinfeld the other day, and he was talking about how if he did his career for the money, he would never have gotten as successful as he did,” Armstrong said. “He did it because he really liked being a comic. What gets me out of bed every day is wanting to talk about these issues and have an effect on the conversation. That’s what gets me up every day, 100%.”
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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.