NYC Radio: Todd Pettengill 'We're Turning The Page' At WPLJ

Todd Pettengill

Todd Pettengill of 'The Todd Show' on WPLJ 95.5 FM says he just has an old-school view of radio.

“It has to be local and it has to be about people,” he David Hinckley at The NY Daily News. “The listeners can’t be faceless.My job is to connect with them. Too many hosts these days fall into the trap of being a talking head.”

That’s not a danger for him with “The Todd Show,” Pettengill says, “because it’s not about me. I’d actually rather they hadn’t called it that, because it’s really an ensemble.”

The “core four,” he says, are him, Cooper Lawrence, executive producer Joe (Monkey Boy) Pardavila and newcomer Anne Marie Leamy, known as Annie.

Collectively it adds up to a subtly different show than Pettengill co-hosted for the last 23 years on WPLJ with Scott Shannon, who has moved to WCBS 101.1 FM.

“With anyone,” says Pettengill, “and I’m sure this is true for Scott, too, there are little things you do differently when you have a different team.”

Anne Marie Leamy

The main change, of course, is that the team got younger.

“Annie is plugged into the WPLJ demographic,” says Pettengill. “Like Cooper, who’s been with us for three years, she’s someone who lives the lifestyle.

“We have to talk about the things our listeners care about. I don’t expect I’ll want to talk about the same things when I’m 65 that I want to talk about now.”

He emphasizes he isn’t slamming his former long-time partner.

“None of what we’re doing changes my love or respect for Scott,” he says. “What we’re doing is just a sort of freshener. We’re turning a page.”

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