(Photo by Grindhouse Radio)
“You just want to give back to the community,” the team at Grindhouse Radio said.
It’s unique. It’s unfiltered. It’s everything you’d expect out of a group of Long Islanders.
Guests range from makeup artist Bobbi Brown to Kel Mitchel, who starred in the hit ’90s series Kenan and Kel, actor and trainer Lou Ferrigno, as well as dozens of others.
The mentality out of the folks at the Levittown-based Grindhouse Radio is to be different. They want to stand out. The station, fresh off being named the No. 1 radio station on Long Island, took to Broadway Commons in Hicksville to celebrate.
“This is our third annual Great Grindhouse Giveaway,” Brimstone, a host on the network, said. “We won for the third year in a row best radio show on Long Island. We have 2017-19 on the wall. Each year, it just gets bigger and better. We have about 650,000 listeners here on Long Island. It’s very humbling to be voted best radio station on Long Island, especially beating terrestrial radio stations.”
(Photo by Grindhouse Radio)
The group’s Levittown studio is cozy, featuring racecar-like seats with plenty of pop culture memorabilia and, of course, dozens of snacks. They feel at home in Levittown, and that’s exactly how they want it to be after moving to the area a year ago.
To give back to fans, they decided to hold an annual Great Grindhouse Giveaway, which started three years ago. Each year, it gets bigger and better. This time, the March 23 event provided people not only a chance to meet the radio personalities, but to also win prizes worth anywhere up to $700.
“We had over 89 sponsors that gave gift cards, physical products and a whole mixture of things,” Kim Adragna, founder and on-air talent, said. “All people had to do was just come up. It could’ve been a gift card worth $5 to a prize worth $700. Answering one simple question, you’re walking through the mall asking who are these people? Well, now you know.”
Throughout the day, about 1,500 people visited the personalities from Grindhouse Radio. They got to take pictures with them, as well as getting autographs, a question and answer session, plus the prizes.
Grindhouse Radio even had a trivia contest throughout the day. Steve Zambito, another one of the group’s on-air hosts, thoroughly enjoyed the experience of getting people thinking on a Saturday.
“At its core, it’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever done,” Zambito, who also goes by the pseudonym Zambo, said.
The radio show gets about 3.5 to 4 million listeners each week. A two-hour program, Grindhouse Radio is a member of iHeartRadio, which means it is syndicated worldwide. Additionally, the show can be heard on iTunes, Google Play and Spotify starting at 7 p.m. every Thursday.
“We’re just about at our 200th episode,” Brimstone said. “Giving back to the community is a big thing for us. We’re very outgoing with our fan base. We love going out to meet our fans with the annual giveaway to say thanks.”
