First radio – now Williams thrives on TV

When Wendy Williams unceremoniously left New York’s Hot 97 radio station in 1998, it was under a cloud of drama. The shock jock had made some enemies of the very culture she was covering. Sean “Diddy” Combs — then known as Puff Daddy — whose songs ruled the airwaves, allegedly played a part in her dismissal. In some ways, she had become part of the music herself: Tupac Shakur’s “Why U Turn On Me?” crudely refers to Williams by name.

While that might have been the end of some people’s careers, Williams, 54, endures. Twenty years later, she is preparing to launch the 10th season of “The Wendy Williams Show,” her nationally syndicated daytime television talk show. Averaging more than 1.8 million viewers an episode last year, according to Nielsen, the former radio host is now interviewing some of the same stars — like Combs — who once entered her crosshairs.

It is an impressive display of staying power for the New Jersey native, whose brash takes on hip-hop culture and celebrity gossip lit up urban radio airwaves in New York and Philadelphia during the 1990s and early aughts.

Williams grew up middle class in Ocean Township, N.J., and began her on-air career early at Northeastern University’s on-campus radio station.

She’s talked about skipping class to intern with legendary Boston radio personality Matt Siegel and how she made $3.25 an hour at a radio station in St. Croix, Virgin Islands, the only on-air gig she could land straight out of college.

By 2008, the year media company Debmar-Mercury teamed up with Fox to put Williams on TV in a six-week summer trial run, she was the host of “The Wendy Williams Experience,” a syndicated radio show that reportedly reached more than 12 million listeners at its peak.

“I view her as one of the all-time great radio personalities — someone who essentially redefined the medium,” said Bill Stephney, a former Def Jam executive and Public Enemy producer, who also began his career in college radio.

Television executives say they were attracted to how outspoken Williams was and how her fans seemed to hang on her every word.

Ira Bernstein, co-president of Debmar-Mercury, remembers accompanying Williams to an early meeting at Fox and discovering firsthand — while walking just a few blocks — how popular she was.

“As we’re walking, literally cab drivers, doormen, Con-Ed workers were yelling ‘Hi Wendy,’ ‘Hi Wendy,’ ‘Hey Wendy,’ and she would say ‘Hi’ back,” Bernstein recalled. “She’s on the radio, and people are recognizing her.”

Still, that was in New York, where she was best known. A lot of people, including advertisers and station owners, were skeptical of her ability to appeal to wider television audiences, and even Bernstein admits it took a few seasons for Williams to find her footing.

But he said it was clear from the very first day of the test run that she had something special.

In the years since, Katie Couric, Harry Connick Jr., Anderson Cooper, Bethenny Frankel and Jeff Probst have all bid farewell to daytime talk shows, but Williams remains.

“Ten years later, we don’t really have too many skeptics left,” said Mort Marcus, also co-president of Debmar-Mercury. “She is really good at what she does.”

Even potential politicians have taken notice of her scope: It was Williams who landed the first nationally televised interview with Cynthia Nixon, the former “Sex and the City” star who announced her run for New York governor in March.

“We knew that by doing Wendy’s show — which reaches all corners of the state — we could get Cynthia in front of a diverse audience and introduce them to the real her,” Rebecca Katz, a senior strategist for Nixon’s campaign, said.

“(Williams) pulls no punches and her audience trusts her,” Katz added.

Indeed, comedian Billy Eichner has called her “the only journalist I trust,” and used his own viral show, “Billy on the Street,” to prove her influence in his community. In one episode, Eichner walks through New York’s Chelsea neighborhood asking gay men if they care about HBO’s “Last Week Tonight” host John Oliver, who happens to be standing beside him.

“Who’s John Oliver?” one guy replies.

“Do you like Wendy Williams?” Eichner asks him, in response.

“I love Wendy Williams,” he says.

If “Ellen” is a dance party, “The Wendy Williams Show” is an actual party. Her co-hosts whoop during the theme song and try to pull off Williams’ trademark greeting, which she developed in her radio days. The host narrows her eyes, opens her mouth slightly, placing her bottom lip into a sort-of downward curl and perches her hands in midair and asks, in a sultry voice, “How you doin’?”

There was plenty of “How you doin’?” happening in Silver Spring, Md., in July. Williams was in town kicking off a multicity tour to celebrate her show’s milestone season.

The crowd was primarily made up of black women who, like the woman they were there to see, were in full glam mode despite the heat. Inside, there were purple disco lights, pink chandeliers and “Glam Squad” staffers directing fans to free hair, makeup and nail stations as a DJ played thumping music.

Williams’ fans, to whom she refers to as her “co-hosts,” describe her as “real” and someone who says what other people won’t. She can be strikingly open about her personal life.

She’s confronted on-air rumors about the alleged infidelity of her husband, Kevin Hunter, who is her manager and an executive producer on the show (“You can believe what you want,” she told a TV audience before holding up her massive diamond wedding ring). And after fainting on-air last year, a terrifying incident that prompted her to take a three-week leave from the show, she opened up about her battle with Graves’ disease.

So when she took the stage in Maryland, Williams talked about her family foundation’s recently launched “Be Here” campaign, geared toward helping those struggling with substance abuse get treatment, a cause close to her heart.

She struggled for years with a cocaine addiction and talked about her teenage son’s run-in with synthetic marijuana three years ago.