‘My weekdays will never be the same’: Philly audiences will miss Marty Moss-Coane on ‘Radio Times’

For nearly four decades, Xerox repairman Donald Stockman has spent his weekdays driving from one job site to another, fixing printers and copiers. The best part of every day, he says, is listening to Marty Moss-Coane host Radio Times, WHYY’s wide-ranging weekday interview and listener call-in show.

“Traffic drives you nuts, people drive you nuts. But there was two hours of calm, listening to Marty,” he said with a rueful laugh. “I took an early lunch a lot of times, from 11 to 12, so I could listen to the show in my car. Not having that, I don’t know what I’ll do.”

Moss-Coane’s announcement on Sept. 29 that she will end her 35-year run with Radio Times next month drew expressions of sadness and howls of disappointment from her longtime listeners. Many of them also congratulated the Philly icon as she enters semiretirement. It’s not a forever goodbye, though; WHYY said she’ll return in January with a new weekly, one-hour show, The Connection With Marty Moss-Coane.

“NOOOOOOOoooooo!” wrote Megan Fitzpatrick of Wyndmoor in an anguished Facebook post. “Marty Moss-Coane is leaving… My weekdays will not ever be the same!”

Fitzpatrick, a construction project manager, said she has enjoyed Moss-Coane’s probing, sensitive interviews with community activists working to influence urban planning and infrastructure development. “They were feel-good stories, in the sense that they were showing how people in the community get involved to tackle bigger issues, rather than just complaining,” she said.

Thurston Moon, a teacher at a Philadelphia charter school and a lifeguard instructor, said he doesn’t fit neatly into the left or right politically, and the show helped him figure out where he stands on various issues.

» READ MORE: WHYY’s Marty Moss-Coane will leave ‘Radio Times’ in November

“Radio Times is just one of the most informative and comprehensive and unbiased sources of information,” he said. “There were a couple of times, when the show ended, I didn’t even want to hear what was coming on next. I just needed a minute to process everything I just heard.”

When Gabe Katz moved to Philadelphia seven years ago to attend graduate school in social work, listening to Radio Times’ weekly regional roundup of local news helped him get to know the city. “In a weird way, I feel like she is asking the kind of questions I would want to ask,” he said.

“She is able to, without dumbing anything down, make sure that listeners understand the depth of an issue. And unlike other interview shows, Radio Times really very actively engages with the audience,” Katz added, citing the live calls and emailed questions that come in for the show’s guests.

Indah Nuritasari said she has been listening to Radio Times since she came to the United States in 2001. As a non-native English speaker, she appreciates Moss-Coane’s clear, easily understandable voice and the program’s willingness to tackle difficult topics; she remembers a 2016 episode about combating radicalism.

“This interview was very thorough and positive, and gave me hope in the era where a presidential candidate tried to create a culture of fear towards Muslims and immigrants,” said Nuritasari, who is chief editor of Indonesian Lantern Media in South Philadelphia.

While many listeners said Moss-Coane became a familiar and integral part of their daily routines for the last three and a half decades, she has still regularly surprised and delighted them anew.

Stockman recalls feeling skeptical when he heard a promo for what ended up being a memorable episode. “They said they’re gonna have a guy on from the Franklin Institute talking about feathers. I thought, ‘Well, they’re really hitting the bottom of the barrel,’ ” he said. “But it was the most fascinating show. I couldn’t get out of my car. I sat in my car listening to this guy talking about feathers for an hour.”

Listeners were split on whether WHYY should create a new Radio Times-like local talk show in the same morning slot or try something new. The consensus seems to be that, whatever the station does, no one can truly replace Moss-Coane.

“I would like to see someone else have the opportunity to step in and fill that role,” Moon said. “I don’t know that I’m going to enjoy it as much, at first, though. I’ll probably have to warm into it.”