Conservative talk show launches on WKNY
'Rick and Ryan' is co-hosted by city Conservative Chairman Richard Cahill Jr. and Vice Chairman Donald Ryan.
KINGSTON, N.Y. » The top two officials in the city’s Conservative Party have launched a radio program on WKNY-AM.
“The Rick and Ryan Show” is co-hosted by Kingston Conservative Chairman Richard Cahill Jr. and Vice Chairman Donald Ryan.
The show, first broadcast on May 28, can be heard from 2 to 3 p.m. Sundays at 1490 AM, and listeners’ calls are welcome. The show is intended to be a contrast to similar national shows.
“We thought there was a need for a talk show where the host is not overtalking the guest,” said Ryan, a former chief civil officer with the Ulster County Sheriff’s Office.
Cahill is a former Kingston alderman who twice ran unsuccessfully for mayor.
The show’s guests so far have included Ulster County Sheriff Paul VanBlarcum, Saugerties Police Chief Joseph Sinagra, Kingston Common Council candidate Jim Rodden (who has the Republican nomination in the Eighth Ward) and political columnist Hugh Reynolds.
Scheduled to be on the show this coming Sunday is Ulster County Legislature candidate Brian Woltman, the Republican nominee in District 7. The guest the following week is to be Kingston GOP Chairman Joseph Ingarra.
An invitation has been extended to Ulster County Executive Michael Hein, a Democrat, but he hasn’t replied, Ryan said.
Ryan said he and Cahill cover the show’s costs themselves, though he wouldn’t provide a dollar amount. The reason for selffunding, he said, is so listeners won’t have advertisers to complain to if they object to any of the show’s content.
“We didn’t want any sponsors having any control over what our opinions are,” said Ryan, who has hosted other radio shows in the past.
Among the segments on the “The Rick and Ryan Show” are “Rick Rants” and “Ryan Rants,” which focus on local, state and national issues.
Cahill, who used to host a public-access TV show with his father, the late Richard Cahill Sr., said the “rants” have had a conservative bent. He said they have focused on such topics as RUPCO’s housing plans, terrorism and sanctuary city proposals.
But “what we have been doing, mostly, is deferring to our guests,” Cahill said Tuesday. “You are going to hear our opinions, and it will be mostly conservative opinions . ... But it (the show) is also to inform.”
Cahill says his own radio listening is made up mostly of sports, but he also listens to conservative commentator Michael Reagan, a son of former president Ronald Reagan.