1010 WINS morning anchor Scott Stanford a master showman, and his morning drive show was just named the #2 Morning Drive show in a Major Market by Barrett Media.
“When you look at all the great talent and great stations, it really is cool to be number two. And we’re looking to do even better next year and get to number one, if it’s possible,” Stanford told Barrett Media.
Humbly, Stanford admitted how important the whole morning show team is, both on and off the air.
“[My co-anchor Susan Richard and I], we’re a great mix in the morning, and the whole morning team!” he said of the Audacy-owned outfit. “This is the greatest place I’ve ever worked. It’s a place where you are valued as talent. There’s no egos, from the folks who are on the air to the producers to the production assistants. Everybody has a great time getting the work done. There’s a lot of fun in between.”
Stanford, a seven-time Emmy winner, is one of the lucky ones. In his 25-plus years in media, he’s never had to leave his home market, New York. “I got all my training and my ‘out-of-town experience’ in Rockland and Westchester on small stations like WRKL and WFAS. Then one day, before I knew it, I ended up at WCBS 880.”
From there, Stanford jumped into the TV world. For 15 years, he worked at WWE, as well as different local outlets in the country’s #1 market, including NBC 4, Fox 5/My9, and PIX11.
He spent nearly six years at WPIX in several different roles. “[PIX11] had a lot of management changes here and there,” he reminisced. “So I went from doing news to being the sports guy to being the morning co-host with Sukanya Krishnan (Suki) on the PIX11 Morning News, and then back to being the sports guy. So in the six years I spent there, I pretty much did everything — including cleaning the bathrooms.”
Stanford and PIX parted ways in 2019, but his kinship with Suki is eternal, and in 2020, the pair launched The Suki and Scott Show. “Our first guest was Jerry Springer,” he recalled. “May he rest in peace. Love Jerry Springer. Jerry came on, did a little show with us. We started posting it on Facebook and, lo and behold, 2,000 shows later, we basically had almost every Hollywood celebrity and performer on the program.”
Today, the show is streamed on USA Today Streaming and QVC Plus. “Everybody always says they feel like they’re hanging out with their friends. They love our interviews when we interview these folks,” Stanford said. “We just started doing it as a hobby six years ago, and now it’s become a nice little business for us.”
In addition to his streaming show, Stanford returned to his radio roots in 2025, this time with WINS. “I started as a freelancer, just getting my feet wet there, learning the equipment,” he clarified. This is because, “At WINS, the anchors do it all. We run the board, all the sound that you hear. We throw to the weather, the traffic, and the reporters. We’re controlling everything you hear coming through the radio, including the commercials. So it takes a little time to get used to that stuff.”
Timing is everything in this business, so when the impeccable Lee Harris left, Ben Mevorach and Ivan Lee turned to Stanford. “Three years later, we’re still doing it. The ratings have almost tripled,” he said. “We’re the number one listened-to morning radio program in the country, as far as CUME audience goes, and it’s just been a fantastic run that just keeps getting better.”
The common thread Stanford brings to both his morning drive and The Suki and Scott Show is comedy and a little levity. “Most of the folks who write [to 1010 WINS] say they just love how we mix in the fun and the humor because, listen, most of the time all the news is bad news. Right. I mean, you’ve got to report the bad news.” Stanford added, “[But] in between the bad news, bad traffic, and now with the bad weather in the winter, people always say, ‘Hey, I love listening to you in the morning. I get all the information I need. You make me laugh.’”
“I make them laugh because I say things that they can relate to. I love to do some impressions. We sing a little bit, play some funny clips. It’s just a little buffet of everything. And my producers know that among the stories we have to cover every day, there are two or three fun things we can do, which are either New York-centric or from around the country and sometimes the world.”
For those looking to follow in his footsteps, Stanford suggests, “If you’re hosting a show, obviously you want to be relatable to your audience. I always tell young broadcasters, just don’t try to be somebody else — just be yourself. And when you’re being yourself, people on the other side of the mic will feel that and they’ll be able to relate to you.”
But don’t expect it to come overnight. There is a lot of time and practice involved in becoming a great anchor, no matter the subject material. “So when the time comes for that big audition and somebody gives you a shot, you’ll be ready to go. Just like when they gave me a shot to do 1010 WINS, I was ready to go.”
He added a good show is “all about creativity and fun.” This is because, “When it comes to news, the news is the news. It’s going to be whatever it is. But what you do with the other time that you have in that newscast is what makes people want to stick around because they can get their news from anywhere. It’s the people who are going to make you laugh and have fun that you’re going to come back to watch.”
Stanford did give youngsters fair warning. “The problem with this business is that your job is always dependent upon the next person who takes over as your boss. It’s such an objective and subjective business. You could be the best news anchor in the world, but the jobs above you come and go pretty often.”
Later opining, “It’s almost like it’s a revolving door a lot of times when it comes to management. The next person that comes in can be like, ‘You know what? Yeah, this guy’s good. I know our ratings are good, but I don’t really like him. You’re done.’ It’s such a crazy, subjective business.”
But for Stanford, this brings him to the beauty of working at New York’s #1 all-news radio station, 1010 WINS on 92.3 FM. “I’ve been at a lot of different places broadcasting-wise. This is the greatest place I’ve ever worked. I always tell people, getting up at 1:30 in the morning makes it worthwhile because you’re going to a place that you absolutely love being. And that’s the best thing I could say.”
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Krystina Alarcon Carroll contributes features and columns for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
