By: Scoop Stanton
Sunday night, I listened to Antony Cumia on 77 WABC in New York online. It was like he never left terrestrial radio. Cumia gave kudos to the legendary Bob Grant, who inspired generations of talk radio personalities, including yours truly. One thing Cumia touched upon was terrestrial radio vs podcasting. Everyone has a podcast. You have “podcasts in a box” kits at Best Buy. Everyone has a podcast. And most of them suck, with the exception of handful. And everyone of them has a big honking microphone front and center. It’s like who has the biggest phallus. And Cumia brings up the fact that most of these podcasters are panhandlers. They are all begging for money.
With radio, you can’t see anything for the most part. And that’s a good thing for “75 Radio.” Did I do a show naked? Did I do a show at a nudist resort? Did I paint my nipples green last St Patrick’s Day? Unfortunately only I know. But it creates the image while you are listening. One of the reasons why we put Danila’s picture up and not stills or a video feed is so we are still radio in the digital age. Besides who wouldn’t want to stare at Danila’s picture!? And at the same time we are on all major podcasting services as we are living by Billy Beane in “Moneyball:” “Adapt or die.” More and more people are being entertained on their phones with thousands of options. Everyone knows how I live and breathe rock music from 1964 to 1979. I can’t recall the last time I listened to the “Classic Rock” station in DC. Same could be said about talk radio.
The next day, Cumia went online and reviewed his performance. Its obvious that he’s not only a fan of terrestrial radio but he is humbled to be on WABC. His old partner Gregg “Opie” Hughes went on his podcast which s nothing more than a light, a microphone and a phone and criticized his old partner. Hughes criticized Cumia for doing AM radio at 8 pm on a Sunday night. Hughes also clowned Cumia because his car doesn’t have AM. But, this is 2025. Everyone livestreams! Including Liberty News Radio! What Hughes failed to mention is that 77 WABC is a legendary talk station. People would kill to get a slot on WABC. Second: Cumia is live in the biggest market in the US: New York. Gregg Hughes is no dummy. He knows that. Either he’s jealous or he’s playing into the three people that watch his podcast.
It gets better for Cumia! His show is going syndicated!
Kudos to Anthony Cumia for explaining the importance of terrestrial radio and the talent that still make radio great and congratulations for a great show back on radio!

