He went from prosecuting bad guys to the talk radio. But now after 25 years on the air at 620 WTMJ Radio, Jeff Wagner is ready to retire next month.
"You just know when it's time, and this for me, it's time," said Wagner. "It's been wonderful. Not too many people can say 25 years in their hometown on the same radio station in essentially the same time slot."
Wagner was @TheTable Wednesday to talk about his 25 years of talking politics on the radio.
The conservative talk show host leaves as a big political year approaches in battleground Wisconsin with the Republican National Convention coming to Milwaukee. So why now?
"The truth of the matter is there's always going to be elections," said Wagner.
The Marquette Law School graduate ended up working as a former assistant US Attorney and once ran for Wisconsin Attorney General before changing careers. He started on WTMJ radio in 1998 as the political environment grew more partisan over the years.
"Things have gotten so much more tribal," Wagner said. "There's no nuance anymore. When I started out, I always wanted to do an intelligent show, let's elevate the discussion"
He especially sees that in conversations around former President Donald Trump,
"If you're a fan of Donald Trump, he can do no wrong. If you're an opponent of Donald Trump, he can do no right. It gets frustrating after a while because you can't elevate the conversation. You can't have any nuance."
Wagner says retirement includes playing more golf in Florida, but he hasn't ruled out doing occasional legal work or filling in once in a while on radio programs.
Watch the full conversation in the video at the top of this article.
Charles Benson and Shannon Sims interview key people in our community during TMJ4's @TheTable segment weeknights at 10 p.m.
It’s about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for “TMJ4” on your device.
Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.
