Relaxing with an early-afternoon stogie at Mahogany on Walnut, a Center City cigar bar, the genial, chrome-domed 34-year-old chuckled at the memories. Exhaling a plume of milky smoke, he marveled at how off-base all the well-intentioned hand-wringing turned out to be.
"Everybody said, 'The city's so parochial; they'll never welcome you. You're not from here; you'll never understand,' " Stigall (pronounced sti-GOLL) recalled with a smile. "I have not found that to be remotely the case. As long as you're honest with Philadelphians, they're gonna be great."
The married father of three young children, who lives with them and Christine, his wife of 11 years, in Chester County, is something of an anomaly in the radio business. The norm is moving "from town to town, up and down the dial," as the theme song from the late-'70s TV comedy "WKRP in Cincinnati" puts it. As a matter of fact, Philly is the first place he's worked in radio outside his hometown.
"A radio geek" from childhood, he explained that, as a kid, he was particularly captivated by a Kansas City shock jock named Randy Miller. That came into play before his senior year of high school when he was featured on the local Fox affiliate's TV newscast in a series profiling noteworthy local young people. He had successfully competed on a national level in public speaking.
At one point in the interview, he was asked about his career goals. "I said I was a huge fan of Randy Miller's and would love to do a show like his someday," said Stigall. "And, by chance, Randy was watching that broadcast. The next morning, I was lying in bed listening to him - I remember this vividly. He said, 'Call me, call me now!'
