It's got to be a heck of a trip when someone says, 'The President is on the line for you.'
The funny thing about that is Bill Spadea wasn't sure President Trump was going to contact him, even though the President's communications office had told him that he would call at 7:30 a.m. to be on his show.
"I wish there was some cool story as to how all this came about,' Spadea said. "It was 9:00 p.m. when I got a call from the communications office. The person told me she had a 'High profile guest that would like to be on your show tomorrow.' I'm thinking about 7:00.a.m., or 8:00 a.m. I'll call you back.'"
It was close to 11:00 p.m. when she called back. 'The President would like to call your show tomorrow at 7:30aa.m. When he comes on, I need you to limit him to 10 minutes.'
"I thought, 'How do I do that? He's the President.'"
She said that when he hit the 10-minute mark, I was to thank him for coming by, and he's welcome again any time.
"I didn't want to tell anyone he was coming on and have them say I'm full of it or look at me like I was crazy. In the morning, I told my producer Kristen there was a possibility the President would call at 7:30. We just rolled with it. I didn't know what was going to happen. Then, at 7:30, right in the middle of the news break, I see her pick up the phone. She always types into the computer that I can see in the studio the name of my next caller."
"The President" is all she wrote.
"He called on his own," Spadea said. "No secretary, no communications person. 'I'm calling for Bill Spadea.' Kristen asked who was calling…'it's Donald Trump,' the President responded. It was surreal. He told me on air that he listens to the show when he's at Bedminster. He showed me why he was so effective, so relatable. He certainly displayed the gravitas you'd expect from the President."
During his interview, Trump told Spadea repeatedly, 'We have to bring it back.'
"I don't know for sure. But what I gleaned from it was we have to bring back America to a place it was before the lockdowns and panic over Coronavirus. Our fear is enough to overcome. But crushing families and businesses with misguided policies made everything worse. He knew we had to open the country and get back to normal. There were some failures in the Trump administration and some shenanigans during the elections, but in Jersey, we expect that with any election.
Spadea's show is on New Jersey 101.5 and can be heard every weekday from 6-10.
Spadea has a breadth of interests, but he's not completely sure of the skills he possesses. "I like to communicate, tell stories. I don't follow the crowd; I'm the guy that will speak up in a small group. Now I'm blessed to be able to speak up on the radio to a million people."
He didn't go to school for media studies. Spadea says he's one of the few radio talkers who got into the business with zero radio credentials.
"I was in real estate. I left the profession of politics many years before for a practical reason, all of the candidates I was working for lost! I loved real estate and managing people to help them achieve their goals."
He's been married for 28 years to his wife, Jodi, and resides in Princeton, NJ. Their son, Michael, is an honors student at San Diego State University. Their daughter Elizabeth graduated from the University of the Arts in London and has launched a successful career as a producer and brand manager in the UK.
"I'm responsible for the people around me," Spadea said. "I've got to work hard, be tough enough to get through all the obstacles. My father had a machine shop in New Jersey. As a 12-year-old kid, I was working there."
In his father's shop, there were screw machines just spitting oil all over the place. Spadea said he'd spread Oil-Dri over the oil, then scrape it up with a flattened garden hoe and shovel it all into buckets.
"I worked there through high school, got the work ethic as a kid. I don't like the term 'workaholic' it has a negative connotation. If you work hard enough, your downtime is more enjoyable."
Spadea has been accused of being able to fall asleep anywhere. It's not a false accusation.
"I was in the Marine Reserves for eight years," Spadea said. "I spent time at Paris Island, Camp Lejeune. On any given day, they'll give you a couple of hours' notice before you move out. They encourage you to sleep so you'll hit the ground running when you get there. If I'm in the back of a truck, I'll fall asleep. It's the same for me on planes. I'll be asleep before we pull away from the gate. I'm pretty good at four or five hours of sleep a night. When I take time off, I really take time off. I leave the cell phone in my office. If it's an emergency, people know to call my wife's phone."
Spadea hosts the morning drive show. He's served as a political strategist, analyst, candidate for office, and business executive.
"There are times my show is driven by headlines. When I had my show on local Fox television, it's far more scripted, and you can't deviate from the idea of that day's show. Radio is exciting and different. Although I'm speaking into a microphone, it's personal. Radio is an amazing outlet. You're really speaking to people on an individual basis. If I'm on a road trip with you, the guy on the other end of the radio is talking to me.
He had a podcast called, Speaking Cops: Back-the-Blue podcast.
"We converted that into Blue Friday," Spadea said. "Every Friday I do a segment on local law enforcement. My producer Kristin and I will go through Facebook pages to find stories. I do a lot of charity work with the New Jersey State Police and speak to audiences a couple of times a week."
Spadea said he does a lot of work with the 200 Clubs, a nationwide charity, but each county has its own group. "We're raising money for families of first responders who made the ultimate sacrifice."
He said at any given moment, first responders have one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. They have to make split-second decisions, and it's just about as hard as it gets. Spadea said what first responders don't need is the media harassing them with just about every single story with a nine-second clip that takes actions out of context to make them look ugly.
"Today, if any force is used during an arrest it's out of context," Spade said. "You don't know if a gun was involved, or what the suspect had done to the officers. When I started this podcast, more than 60,000 police officers were assaulted that year. People don't see how the cops are under attack. I wanted to create some balance to that, so that's why I started Blue Fridays."
When he's not spending his time on the air, he's a film producer. His most recent project is Psycho Fiance. He swears it's not autobiographical.
"What a fun project," Spadea said. "We started this a couple of years ago. I was introduced to this young comic, Jay Black. He co-starred in a Hallmark film, and we became friends as I hosted comedy shows."
Black told Spadea he'd been writing movies and needed a partner who wanted to turn filmmaking into a business. Someone who could help raise money for a finished product.
"The original title was, The Perfect Pose, about a psychotic yoga instructor. This was our first actual co-production. We sold the right to the script to the guys who did the financing. Lifetime changed the name."
An earlier film is Psycho Storm Chaser, shot during the height of the lockdown.
"We had to adapt and overcome adversity. Part of that comes from my background as a Marine. Lifetime purchased the domestic rights, and we're still negotiating the foreign contracts."
The film industry is impossible. The rules are onerous, and it's very burdensome for smaller film companies. States will tout their incentives, but those aren't designed for the smaller movie shoots. You can create an outstanding project without assistance with the technical and visual effects and the right people.
"We'll make the film in its entirety," Spadea said. "Then we'll go and generate interest in the project. It's like every other business. I was in real estate for many years, and there's an inherent risk. Everything is risky."
He didn't have a depth of knowledge as a filmmaker, but he said he could read and understand a new industry. He also knows what material he likes.
"Today, we have around-the-clock programming. There are so many outlets in need of content. Right now, we're editing Psycho Fiance. That's the business from a business standpoint. You have to ask yourself, 'What is the commodity? The commodity is content. How do you marry the creative with the budget? You can never go over your budget."
Spadea worked on New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008.
"I was a surrogate in New Jersey. Rudy was a liberal Republican, but a great practical leader," Spadea said. "I was asked by my friend to help out. His name is Ken Kurson, and he co-wrote Rudy's book, Leadership. My role was to speak on the mayor's behalf to conservative groups across NJ. I admit it's hard to undo the politics of the last couple of years that dominate the discussion about his reputation, but he was the best Mayor New York has had."
But those have been a heck of a couple of years.
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