| The Ramsey Show | |
| Format: | Financial talk |
| Country: |  United States |
| Starring: | Dave Ramsey, Rachel Cruze, Dr. John Delony, Ken Coleman, George Kamel, Jade Warshaw |
| Creator: | Dave Ramsey |
| Producer: | James Childs |
| Exec Producer: | Blake Thompson |
| Rec Location: | Ramsey Network |
| Last Aired: | present |
| Opentheme: | "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty |
| Podcast: | https://podcasts.google.com/search/The%20Dave%20Ramsey%20Show https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ramsey-show/id77001367 |
The Ramsey Show (formerly known as The Dave Ramsey Show) is a three-hour self-syndicated radio program and podcast, co-hosted by finance author and speaker Dave Ramsey and a rotating Ramsey Personality, that airs Monday through Friday from 2:00–5:00 P.M. ET. It is broadcast from the headquarters of Ramsey's company, Ramsey Solutions, in Franklin, Tennessee.
During the show, Dave Ramsey and his co-host take live calls from listeners centering on issues of finance, careers, and relationships. One notable difference between The Ramsey Show and other financial talk shows is that Ramsey attempts to go beyond mathematical mechanics and reach the callers on an emotional and spiritual level.[1]
The Ramsey Show has a channel on iHeartRadio and Sirius XM.[2] [3], it is one of the top five most-listened-to radio shows.[4]
The program began June 15, 1992, when Ramsey, selling copies of his self-published book (Financial Peace) out of the trunk of his car, was a guest on 99.7 WWTN.[5] The station had recently filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and one of its hosts had quit after not getting paid, which left the station scrambling to fill the gap in its lineup. Ramsey's guest spot was popular and he offered to do a one-hour show for free for one month, not entirely expecting to be successful.
The Money Game went on the air with Ramsey,[6] Hal Wilson[7] and Roy Matlock[8] each hosting the hour alone on certain days of the week. Ramsey was the bankruptcy and "get out of debt" guru on Mondays and Wednesdays, Matlock answered investing questions on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Wilson's Friday topic was primarily real estate. After station management asked Wilson to discontinue his portion of the program, Ramsey and Matlock teamed up to host the show five days per week. Matlock left the show on good terms in 1996 to focus on his insurance business, leaving Ramsey to host the show alone.[9]
With Ramsey now the sole host, The Money Game changed its name to The Dave Ramsey Show.[10] The program became quite popular in Nashville, which led to Ramsey proposing syndication. Reportedly, when WWTN asked Ramsey who would be syndicating his show, Ramsey simply pointed to his producer, Blake Thompson, who continues as executive producer of the show to this day. As Bill Hampton, vice president of radio for The Lampo Group at the time, stated, "they learned syndication from the ground up."[11]
In the early 2000s, a woman called into the show from Michigan and hysterically screamed that she was debt free-before hanging up. Taken off guard, Ramsey and Thompson initially thought nothing of it, until more people called in to do their own "debt-free scream." Ramsey realized that "there's something emotional, spiritual that was happening these people's lives. They're at a point in their journey, a point in their story, where they need to celebrate." So Ramsey made the debt-free scream a regular part of the show. A special stage was eventually built at the studio in Ramsey's company headquarters for people to come and do their debt-free scream live on the air.
In 2006, the show received two nominations for the 2006 Radio & Records News/Talk Industry Achievement Awards. It was the fifth year in a row for Ramsey in the "Syndicated Personality of the Year" category, and the second year in a row for Hampton in the "Executive of the Year" category.[12] On the success of the show, Hampton stated that it did $2.5 million in network sales in 2005 while MyTMMO.com did $1.2 million. He also stated the show would bring in an estimated $3.7 million from advertisers.
After 20 years of broadcasting on WTN, on January 1, 2013, the show moved to 102.5 FM ("The Game"). Ramsey and WTN were unable to come to terms over a renewal contract.[13] One year later, on January 1, 2014, the show moved to WLAC.
In 2020, The Dave Ramsey Show was renamed The Ramsey Show. This was done to better incorporate the show’s Ramsey Personality co-hosts (who began co-hosting the show full-time the year before) and to make the show less focused on Dave Ramsey himself. Ramsey stated that he wanted to “set the show up for generational success; that it doesn’t die when I do.”[14] Ramsey says that he will continue to co-host The Ramsey Show “as long as I make sense.”
Ramsey's show is one of very few national radio shows to be self-syndicated. The program is not connected to any national network or programming service, and is distributed directly to local stations. Ramsey's show is fed to stations 24/7 so that stations will not have to record his show for later broadcast, but rather they can always use the satellite feed. The show is distributed via Westwood One's satellite platform. The show is now also available on podcast via iTunes., the show is heard on more than 600 stations.
With a simple, seven-stage "baby steps" formula (Baby Step Two is based on the debt-snowball method), Ramsey urges listeners to avoid all debt except for certain types of home mortgages.
Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps are: