Longtime Atlanta radio host Steve McCoy really did interview Donald Trump - just not as recently as it appeared during what turned out to be his final day on air. He was suspended and then let go from 106.7 this month after revealing he aired an old interview with the presidential candidate, presenting it as if it had just happened.
He spoke out about the matter during a podcast taped with with longtime fellow broadcasters and friends, Vikki Locke and Tom Sullivan. You can listen to the entire podcast here.
"What were you thinking?" Vikki asked.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
"Donald Trump was supposed to call us on ... and he didn’t," McCoy said. "I promoted it three times on the air. So, then I had this old interview with Trump that we had done a year or so ago and so I played that back."
"Why didn’t you just say it?" Vikki asked. "Why didn’t you just say ‘He canceled and so I got a chance to talk to him a couple of years ago' ...”
"Yeah, I know," Steve said, adding he wrote Trump a letter of apology.
"I apologized to everybody that I needed to and to the audience, I certainly apologized," he said. "I didn’t mean to do anything reprehensible. But, I guess I did."
Tom noted that entertainment radio and news radio formats differ.
"In entertainment radio, interviews are taped a lot and we kind of rework them for time constraints and maybe we didn’t get the answer we really wanted, so we’ll substitute a question to kind of get what we really need," he said. "So maybe you were in that same Top 40 mindset?"
"Right the Top 40 mindset," Steve said.
Then Tom aired an obviously fake, spliced-and-diced Donald Trump interview that cracked Steve up.
"I’m sorry it all happened, Steve," Tom said afterward. "I won’t rib you about it anymore. Until next week."
Vikki then segued into Steve's revelation that he has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Medication is keeping the condition at bay. Steve has plans to start a new podcast about the condition, partnering with the Wilkins Parkinson's Foundation.
"My symptoms have been kind of minor compared to a lot of people," Steve said. "It affects everybody differently."
Tom and Vikki both noted that an early morning radio shift isn't great for anyone's health, much less someone with Parkinson's.
"It’s a blessing that you’re not having to get up at 1 in the morning or 2 in the morning," Tom said. "You can sleep in. Your health is more important."
Vikki said she had noticed Steve's hand shaking years ago and asked what was wrong. Steve told her he’d just had too much coffee.
"I just didn’t want anybody to know," he said. "I didn’t want a pity party."
Quipped Vikki: "Oh, we’d never do that!"
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