Rachel Viggiano returns to region and tackles major-market radio.
By BOB HERPEN
The Sun
When she’s on the air weekdays from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Cherry Hill native Rachel Viggiano can only see maybe two people from her perch inside the studios of Q102 in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. But her voice can be heard by millions across the Delaware Valley and beyond.
One of those people she can’t see has been gone for quite some time. Her grandmother, who permanently lost her sight in a car accident when Viggiano was a child, used to say “I can hear how beautiful you are,” and so the notion to pursue a career in a place where she could be heard was planted at a young age, and a purpose in life was forged.
“I knew that I loved talking to people, and I knew that I loved making people happy. And when it came down to doing that, my parents were like, ‘you should be in the news, a broadcaster.’ And I said, ‘I hate talking about negative stuff all the time. If it comes down to hearing me, all you’d have to do is listen to me on the radio.’”
The 2012 graduate of Cherry Hill High School East made a decision that made it a bit easier to continue toward that vocation: enrolling in Syracuse University. While Viggiano hoped to gain entrance into the prestigious Newhouse School of Communications, it didn’t happen right away. Her grades were exceptional, but not quite good enough.
“You needed a 3.8 GPA, and I had a 3.5, so I told myself I was going to go in as a general admissions student, and work my butt off to get into Newhouse,” she said. “It took me a year. I actually pledged a sorority, which everybody said is so time-consuming. So I just did it. I went into the program challenging myself.”
Since Newhouse didn’t have a program geared specifically toward radio, Viggiano said she availed herself of every opportunity to gain expertise in front of the cameras, behind the cameras, in front of the microphone and in studio, as a reporter, anchor, producer, even as a cooking show host. Over the course of four years of study, she wanted to be able to head into the real world with a broad base of media knowledge to be successful wherever she landed.
Upon graduating in 2016, Viggiano did what you’re supposed to do at the start of your career: go small and work your way up. Using what she called a 10-year plan, she first found herself in New York’s Southern Tier, working the morning shift at country station WKPQ-FM out of tiny Hornell, N.Y.
“I would much rather come into work in my PJs every day and feel very comfortable talking to people than be stressed out talking to people,” she admitted. “It was perfect, because I was able to establish myself as a personality. It was a perfect starting ground.”
After that eight-month apprenticeship, it was time to move forward. She landed at WPUR-FM, in Atlantic City, another station with country flavor, part of its morning show as co-host with her boss, Joe Kelly.
Although enjoying a place year-round where she spent her summers, the old familiar itch crept up about a year later. Viggiano reached out to Raphael, Q102’s evening personality, who had lived and worked in upstate New York before coming to Philadelphia. After six months of back-and-forth conversation, and the submission of an air check, the leap forward she’d been waiting for arrived in an email from program director Jared Fallon, which led to an in-person interview.
“We want to hire you for middays. We want to make you the female face of Q102,” she recalls Jared saying. “He said ‘you are our demographic.’ It was surreal to think that my dream has come true in such a short amount of time. I’m from Point-of-Woods and I grew up listening to the station.”
And so, iHeartMedia announced last August that Viggiano, rechristened “Rach on the Radio” would come back home to host middays for the station, something that was squarely in her wheelhouse.
In addition to her on-air presence, Viggiano submits her own blogs and runs a podcast, called “Serving SiRACHa,” she was working on the day The Sun visited the Q102 studios, which featured special guest, 21-year-old singer Rachel Crow. She also sports a significant social media and public presence at remote broadcasts and station-sponsored events.
“I’m here for the people. My favorite part of my job isn’t being in the studio, it’s going to events and seeing the people (who listen) who I become best friends with,” she added.
Since the original 10-year plan ended up coming true in fewer than three, Viggiano is still waiting for her next challenge, but sees it happening in her hometown rather than elsewhere. She’s awaiting her new station trusting her enough to interview bigger and better stars and artists on the modern celebrity scene.
“Within a two-year span, they want me to be a local Elvis Duran here. They want me to be so big locally. It’s overwhelming to think someone sees so much talent and value in me,” she said.
That doesn’t mean Viggiano wouldn’t be open to, say, a TV gig out in Los Angeles.
To find out more about Viggiano’s day job, visit https://q102.iheart.com/, or find her on Twitter at @RACH_ontheradio and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/RachOnTheRadio/.
