D-C Radio: WTOP's Chris Core Ready To Sign-Off

In more than five decades as a broadcaster, WTOP’s Chris Core has spent most of his life talking on the radio, but his “Core Values” commentary December 20 will be his last: Core is retiring, reports WTOP.

After 11 years of daily commentaries on WTOP, preceded by 20 years as one half of the popular “Trumbull and Core Show,” on WMAL 630 AM, together with Bill Trumbull, Core said the time has come to embrace retirement.

Now 71, Core began his time on the D.C. airwaves in 1974, when he was hired at WMAL as a weekend sports anchor.

Soon after being hired, Core added newscasting to his resume, and station executives noticed his on-air chemistry with Trumbull, who was already established in the radio market.

“In September of 1976 they said, ‘We’d kind of like you to sit in the studio with Bill and be his partner,’ and that was the beginning of what became the ‘Trumbull and Core Show,’ and we had a really good 20 year run.”

Core describes the show: “It was a different kind of radio back then, a two-man show. We played a little bit of music, but mostly it was just the two of us. My goal was to make Trumbull laugh, and his goal was to make me laugh, and together we got the audience laughing.”

After Trumbull’s retirement in 1996, Core was paired with Brooke Stevens until 1999. When she departed, Core continued on his own, as the station’s middle-of-the-road format morphed into talk radio.

WMAL’s talk programming became more conservative-leaning, and in March 2008, he was fired under the new management.

“I have to say that was not my favorite time to be on that radio station. I much more enjoyed the time with Bill, when we were not political, we were just having fun,” said Core.

A day or so after being fired, Core got a phone call from Jim Farley, then-program director of the round-the-clock news format WTOP. Farley invited Core to lunch, to discuss a possible future at WMAL’s rival.

“He said: ‘I’ve got this great idea. I’d like you to come on every day and do a commentary, talking about anything you want to talk about. And, I’ve got a great name for it. I want to call it ‘Core Values.'”

Core loved the idea, and the daily one-minute commentary began.