Anthony Cumia thought July 3rd, 2014, would be the final day he worked in radio.
On that day, Cumia was fired by SiriusXM for what the company called “racially-charged and hate-filled” tweets about a situation he was involved in with a Black woman, ending his 10-year run with the satellite radio broadcaster.
But after more than a decade away from radio, he made his return to 77 WABC in New York earlier this year. And to say it’s gone well would be an understatement.
After the debut episode of The Anthony Cumia Show, Red Apple Audio Networks launched the show into syndication due to demand from stations wanting to carry the program. After a few weeks, the show was increased from two hours to three, now occupying the 8-11 PM ET timeslot on the station.
And while Cumia was widely known for working on his long-running comedy show Opie & Anthony, he said that the transition to news/talk wasn’t difficult due to the content of his podcast that he launched in the aftermath of his SiriusXM show.
“Truth be told, I’ve been kind of going in that direction for about 10 years,” Cumia said. “When I finished my tenure over there at SiriusXM, I started a podcast network, Compound Media. And for the next 10 years, I was doing talk radio: a lot of guests and a lot of stand-up comics.
“With everything that was going on in the country and the world, it kind of morphed into a more political show, but still with the kind of light-hearted humor that I’d always brought … That really got me set up.”
Despite the podcast taking on a more political approach, Anthony Cumia admitted he never expected to return to radio.
“I didn’t even think I would be back on terrestrial radio,” he shared. “It was so strange. Opie & Anthony was on satellite radio for 10 years after it was on terrestrial, and then I did 10 years (of podcasting). So we’re talking almost 20 years that went by that I had not been on terrestrial radio, so I was surprised (when WABC called). But things come full circle.”
Cumia added that his decade of podcasting helped him hit the ground running when the opportunity with 77 WABC presented itself.
“It gave me the opportunity to make so many mistakes and to really try to sharpen what I wanted to do,” said Cumia. “I like to bring an element of humor to it, even if it’s a serious topic. Having that podcast allowed me to do that without having someone hovering over me and telling me what I could or couldn’t do. It gave me the opportunity to really see for myself what worked and what didn’t work, as far as that format goes.”
Cumia admitted he was caught off guard by the initial success of the program, despite feeling prepare to execute the format.
“I was pretty surprised by that,” he said of the demand from affiliate stations to want to carry the program in markets outside of New York, where 77 WABC is based. “I’ve never been a pat myself on the back kind of guy. Any kind of advancement I’ve gotten in this broadcast career, I’ve always looked and gone, ‘Oh geez, I hope they don’t find out I’m just Anthony Cumia.’ In those 10 years of podcasting, I realized I’m good at this. I know what I’m doing when I’m doing this type of radio.
“So there was some vindication. The vindication of stations coming to the table and wanting to put me on their platform; it proved to me that I know what I’m doing,” he continued. “I have a talent to do this.”
The news/talk format isn’t known for having hosts with a comedic background. But Anthony Cumia believes it helps separate him from the pack, making his show both unique and remarkable.
“I’m just not like all the other news talk radio personalities. I put that unique twist on it with my own personality,” he said, after noting that there are plenty of great hosts who operate differently. “I’m not just reciting talking points or the news. I’m adding impressions and joking around with the callers and bringing some levity to a topic that can pretty quickly get depressing or anxiety-inducing. I’m using humor to make it a little more palatable.”
When asked what the future looked like, Cumia said he’d like to continue diving deeper in the news/talk space, noting that having a weekend show isn’t simply a hobby for him and something he’s doing for fun. It’s the next evolution of his long career.
“It did rejuvenate me and my feeling about radio,” he said. “I went into it full speed ahead … It’s a lot of fun. It’s this rejuvenation and the competitive aspect of the whole thing that has totally come back to me. I want to be on a lot of stations. I want to do more broadcasting on terrestrial radio across the country.”
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
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.
