No disrespect to the likes of Bill Handel, Rush Limbaugh, and Ben Shapiro, but the average syndicated morning host can’t count them as inspiration. Then again, TJ Ritchie isn’t the average radio talent.
The longtime host of The Ace & TJ Show — now the TJ & Riggins Show — is set to begin a news/talk radio career at the legendary WBT in Charlotte, where he’s been based during his run in national syndication.
A conservative talk show might not seem like a natural fit for a longtime music morning man. But TJ Ritchie admitted it’s been on his radar for decades.
“I’ve been a conservative my entire life and I’ve always been interested in politics. I’m from Louisiana and politics can be pretty interesting in Louisiana,” he said with a chuckle. “That’s where I grew up so I started listening to news/talk at the same time that I got into radio … It just clicked with me, listening to Rush Limbaugh mainly. I like the content portion of radio more so than I like the music portion — not to say I don’t like music, ’cause I love it and have been on music stations my whole career — but on my way home from work every day, I’d be tired of listening to music. So I’d start listening to talk radio and just fell in love with it.”
There are many differences between hosting a nationally syndicated music morning show and an evening talk show, with The TJ Ritchie Show set to air from 7-9 PM on WBT beginning on Tuesday, May 27th.
But one you might not have considered?
“I haven’t been on the radio past 10 o’clock in the morning to do a regular show since 1991,” Ritchie said with a smile.
That isn’t the only change, however.
“Going into new situations, I always had somebody there sharing it with me and working through it together. But this time, it is just me. It doesn’t take away from how much I’m looking forward to it, how much I’m ready to go, and I think I’m gonna be able to make an impact. But just that aspect of it is different.”
Ritchie shared that with his current TJ & Riggins Show no longer airing in Charlotte after K104.7 dropped the show amidst the departure of longtime co-host Dave “Ace” Cannon, he was able to look at new opportunities in the Queen City. The opportunity arose when WBT Program Director Mike Schaefer reached out Ritchie’s manager with a “crazy idea”, which the longtime music radio host jumped at the chance.
Despite never meeting, TJ Ritchie said he had known Schaefer for years.
“We had our first conversation and I realize that Mike Schaeffer was on KFI in Los Angeles years ago. I fanboy all over him and I know he at the time he thought I’m faking all of this and I’m not,” Ritchie said. “I was like ‘Oh my God, you’re Schaeffer from The Bill Handel Show.’ And then I started peppering him with questions, because I would always download The Bill Handel show on KFI. That’s how into talk radio I was.”
He shared that he would download the show from the KFI website and then have to physically drag the copy onto his iPod to listen to the Handel’s shows in the early days of on-demand audio.
While TJ Ritchie identifies as a conservative, he says he’s much more interested in hosts who can put on an interesting radio show, pointing to both liberal and conservative hosts alike as inspiration for his move into the news/talk radio genere at WBT.
“I found (Bill Handel) through Handel on the Law, because WBT has Handel on the Law, and I listen to it on my way to church,” he said with a hearty laugh. “Of course, Rush Limbaugh, Neal Boortz out of Atlanta was one of my favorites, and I also like a lot of podcasts, too. I like Matt Walsh and Ben Shapiro. I like Mark Levin. But it has to be entertaining to keep my attention. Because there are a lot of talk show hosts that say things that I believe or could educate me, but if it’s not delivered in an entertaining way, I can’t focus on it. That’s why I was no good in school, because it wasn’t entertaining enough to hold my attention. All those that I just mentioned, I think, are great. I listen to them every day.”
Despite already being a familiar name to Charlotte radio listeners, TJ Ritchie shared that he fully understands the legendary status of WBT and values and appreciates the opportunity in front of him.
“The fact that it is WBT makes it sweeter for me,” Ritchie admitted. “I will never ever — and I’ll explain this on the air when I go on Tuesday night — I’ll never walk in the doors of this building and take it for granted. I won’t take the legendary status of WBT for granted. And I won’t take even one listener’s support for granted. That’s the way I’ve always looked at my career. You can be number one for a decade and then all of a sudden it could go away overnight. It means so much to me if someone decides in their busy lives to say, ‘I’m gonna gonna pull him into my life for a few minutes.'”
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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.
