In conversation with Richard Syrett, host on Sauga 960 AM

Unbowed. Unbent. Unbroken.  
Radio talk show host Richard Syrett wraps his daily radio program with them, and he lives by them.
After 30 plus years in radio on both sides of the microphone, Syrett is a survivor and a story teller.  
He kicked around the Toronto dial as a producer and weekend host before catching on as a regular guest-host on legendary Coast to Coast AM, the most-listened-to, late-night radio show in North America. He also hosts his own syndicated radio program, The Conspiracy Show, heard in 40 markets across North America.  Now, Syrett has taken on yet another gig, host of the afternoon drive slot on Sauga960AM.  We sat down with the extremely busy broadcaster to get his thoughts on his career, future of broadcasting and the pandemic.

Sauga960: When did you first know a career in broadcasting was in your future?
Richard Syrett: When I got a C average in high school math. I’ve always been a curator of the interesting, the odd, and the unexplained. I spent the first 25 years of my life collecting stories and befriending storytellers and the last 30 years figuring out how to shake it all out of my head and into a microphone. 

Sauga960: When it comes to broadcasting, who did you look up to?
RS: I’ve been fortunate to work along side the best, including Ed Needham, an American bloviator of the highest magnitude. He could captivate, enthral for hours - no guests, no calls. Gravitas!  Fred Napoli, the voice, the words, the music, total enchantment. 

Sauga960: Where do you see the future of radio heading?
RS: I see potential for a new golden age now that the corporate behemoths are failing, as well they should. They’ve turned their backs on their listeners and their communities. They talk at us and past us but never with us. I don’t understand why they’re in radio at all. I see a return to small, family-owned operations. Radio is about story telling and humans have an innate need for stories. Our phones and eventually an invisible implant will replace the countertop Philco.  The mode of delivery will evolve and change but there will always be the story. 

 Sauga960: How have you and your family dealt with the COVID19 pandemic?
RS: We’ve been untouched by the virus, thank God. I’ve been social distancing for decades. It’s hardest on my boys. They should be out cow-tipping until the streetlights come on. Am I dating myself? 

Sauga960AM: Has Politics become a bad word?
RS: Become? 

 Sauga960AM: If your car radio was stuck playing the same song over and over, what song would not mind hearing over and over ?    
RS: And Your Bird Can Sing by The Beatles.

Sauaga960: What piece of advice would you give to someone looking to make a career in broadcasting?
RS: Quit broadcasting school. Travel, Live, Feel, Experience. Read everything. Talk to strangers on elevators.

The Richard Syrett Show can be heard Monday-Friday 4-6pm on Sauga960AM.

sauga960am.ca