NJ Radio: Bill Spadea, Morning Host At WKXW, To Run for Governor

Bill Spadea

Media personality and longtime New Jersey 101.5 morning host Bill Spadea made it official, launching his campaign for governor, according to a posting at the website of WKXW New Jersey 101.5 FM.

"I'm an outsider they can't control and because I'm unapologetically conservative: Pro-life, pro-Second Amendment and pro-Trump," Spadea says in a nearly 3-minute campaign video released Monday morning.

Speaking over images of a "drag queen story hour" and headlines about crimes committed by people in the country illegally, Spadea says he is "running for governor to fight for you."

"I'll make the tough budget cuts that scare the career politicians. We'll fix the way we fund schools so suburban parents pay less property tax. Give kids an education at school, not indoctrination. "We'll stop Joe Biden from using our state as a dumping ground for his illegals and end the handouts they get from Phil Murphy and weak sellout Republicans."

Spadea joins an already crowded race in the wide-open 2025 contest. Gov. Phil Murphy is barred from running again because of term limits.

Political observers say Spadea had been hinting at a run for at least a year. He launched the Common Sense Club political action committee in 2023, supporting local and statewide candidates in every election. Last year, a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll on potential candidates found he had high favorability and name recognition among GOP voters.

Spadea, a 55-year-old Marine veteran and married father of two who lives in Princeton, has been honing his conservative and populist message for many years as a TV and radio broadcaster following a career in real estate. He has been the morning show host on New Jersey 101.5 since 2015 and previously anchored a nightly local news program on WWOR-TV and Fox 29 in Philadelphia.

Spadea will remain on the air and host New Jersey 101.5’s morning radio drive-time show until he qualifies to run for governor, the station’s owner, Townsquare Media, said this morning.

“Until he becomes a legally qualified candidate, Bill will continue to fulfill his employment responsibilities entertaining and informing the local audience on NJ 101.5 airwaves and digital platforms, as he has done for the last nine years,” the company said in a statement.