Andrew Steven Wilkow (born August 18, 1972) is a
conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization ...
political talk radio host on the
Sirius XM Patriot
SiriusXM Patriot is a conservative talk radio channel on Sirius Satellite Radio channel 125 and XM Satellite Radio channel 12 The channel features exclusive hosts such as Cam & Company froNRANews(until June 2018), David Webb, and Andrew Wilkow. I ...
channel on
SIRIUS
Sirius is the brightest star in the night sky. Its name is derived from the Greek word , or , meaning 'glowing' or 'scorching'. The star is designated α Canis Majoris, Latinized to Alpha Canis Majoris, and abbreviated Alpha CM ...
channel 125
and
XM channel 125.
Until July 2006, Wilkow had been on
WGY in
Schenectady, New York
Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, (weekday mornings) and
WABC in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
(Sunday mornings).
Mark Levin has nicknamed as the "next generation of great talk radio".
Wilkow is also a contributor to the website
Conservative Punk.
He also has a television show on
TheBlaze.
Wilkow was raised in the
Long Island
Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18th ...
town of
Bellmore, New York
Bellmore is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Nassau County, New York, United States. The population according to the 2010 census was 16,218. Bellmore is located on the south shore of Long Island 5 miles from Jones Beach State Park, ...
. Wilkow's interest in radio began during his freshman year of college at
SUNY Delhi
The State University of New York at Delhi (SUNY Delhi or Delhi State College) is a public college in Delhi, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. Over 3,000 students attend the institution.
SUNY Delhi offers ...
at the college's campus station, WDTU. After transferring from Delhi to a local community college where he obtained his associate degree, he finished his college education at the
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
, graduating in 1996 with a degree in Communications.
While there, he held an airshift at that school's commercially run
WRUF-FM and was a member of
Sigma Alpha Mu
Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its rel ...
fraternity.
Before entering talk radio in 2002, he had stints as a disc jockey at
WCLG-FM in
Morgantown, West Virginia
Morgantown is a city in and the county seat of Monongalia County, West Virginia, United States, situated along the Monongahela River. The largest city in North-Central West Virginia, Morgantown is best known as the home of West Virginia Univers ...
, (as "Andrew Steele")
and at
WMRQ
WMRQ-FM (104.1 MHz) is an alternative rock radio station licensed to Waterbury, Connecticut, and serving the Greater Hartford media market. WMRQ-FM is owned by Red Wolf Broadcasting and has an effective radiated power (ERP) of 14,000 watts. Its ...
in
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
(as "Wilkow"). Wilkow became a regular Sunday morning host at WABC while keeping his air shift at WMRQ. When WMRQ switched format from
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercia ...
to
hip hop, he moved into talk radio full-time when he filled the 5-7 p.m. shift on WGY in October 2003.
After becoming a ratings success, Wilkow moved to the 9-11:40 a.m. slot in May 2005, replacing
Glenn Beck
Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...
, when WGY wanted to clear the third hour of
Sean Hannity
Sean Patrick Hannity (born December 30, 1961) is an American talk show host, conservative political commentator, and author. He is the host of '' The Sean Hannity Show'', a nationally syndicated talk radio show, and has also hosted a comment ...
. At WGY, Wilkow became known for being a vocal rival of the Democratic party in Albany (which he refers to as the "entrenched Democratic Machine".)
In June 2006, Wilkow announced his departure from both WGY and WABC in order to host a talk show on
Sirius Satellite Radio
Sirius Satellite Radio was a satellite radio ( SDARS) and online radio service operating in North America, owned by Sirius XM Holdings.
Headquartered in New York City, with smaller studios in Los Angeles and Memphis, Sirius was officially la ...
; his last show on WGY was July 14, and his last show on WABC was on July 30.
Since August 9, 2006, Wilkow has hosted his own program on the Sirius Patriot channel on Sirius Satellite radio, ''The Wilkow Majority''. The advertising for the program claims it is rooted in "one thing and one thing only, and that is rational thought."
On August 23, 2006, Wilkow returned to the airwaves of WABC, where he filled in for regular weekday host Mark Levin.
On July 14, 2007 Wilkow married Brittany, the daughter of WABC program director,
Phil Boyce.
He currently hosts a three-hour session beginning at 9 A.M. West/12 P.M. East Monday-Friday, with replays after
Rusty Humphries in the evenings and on weekends.
He frequently appeared as a panelist on
TheBlaze internet program ''Real News from the Blaze''. Wilkow joined
TheBlaze in a new show called ''Wilkow!''.
On June 27, 2014, Wilkow announced through social media that he would no longer be hosting ''Wilkow!'' on The Blaze. On his radio program airing that same day, Wilkow cited the reason for his desire to spend more time with his children.
Wilkow appears in ''
Attack of Life: The Bang Tango Movie'', a 2016 documentary film about 80s hard rock band
Bang Tango
Bang Tango is an American hard rock band. The band was formed in Los Angeles in 1988 and was signed to MCA Records the same year.
History Formation (1988)
Initially the band was founded by guitarist Mark Knight and bassist Kyle Kyle in 19 ...
; directed by
Drew Fortier
Andrew Lawrence Fortier (born July 14, 1987) is an American musician, guitarist, filmmaker, actor, and author. He is best known for his work with The Lucid; which he cofounded alongside Vinnie Dombroski (Sponge), David Ellefson (ex Megadeth), ...
.
On January 31, 2018, Andrew Wilkow started hosting a new version of Wilkow on CRTV, which would merge with TheBlaze to form BlazeTV later in 2018. The beginning of Wilkow's show contains the same opening spiel as his radio show, with Wilkow stating that he is a
"Patriot first, Conservative second, and Republican third." Wilkow also makes it a point to close his TV show with the tagline, "The arguments on this television program cannot be broken."
See also
References
External links
Official Wilkow Majority Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkow, Andrew
1972 births
Living people
American adoptees
American talk radio hosts
State University of New York at Delhi alumni
University of Florida alumni
People from Hollywood, Florida
People from Bellmore, New York
Blaze Media people
Conservative talk radio