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If you knew how early they start their day, you may never complain about your 8 a.m. alarm again.
It’s about 9 a.m. on a bright Tuesday morning, but the quartet that makes up Q102’s “Jeff & Jenn” show — Jeff Thomas, Jenn Jordan, Tim Timmerman, and Jennifer Fritsch — have been up long before the sunrise. With cups of morning brew within arm’s reach and eight mounted televisions broadcasting a mix of clocks, decibels and local news, the group is deep in the grind of their daily morning show.
During short breaks, Fritsch speculates out loud about the culprit behind the broken door handle to the studio with a damning attention to detail (sounds like Jeff, definitely something Jeff would do). As if on queue, a repairman walks in, and begins (quietly) working on the door as the quartet alternates between live on-air banter, music and commercial breaks.
Today, they’re giving away free tickets to see the upcoming “Devil Wears Prada” sequel. Yes, folks are still calling in these days.
Maybe you know them from Second Date Update (now available on-demand in an uncensored format). Perhaps you’re well familiar with their voices from morning commutes or workplace speakers. Or maybe you haven’t turned the radio on in years, and that’s fine.
But the “Jeff & Jenn” show is still going strong.
Jordan and Thomas have worked alongside each other for over three decades, first meeting at a radio station in Tampa, Fla. They haven’t always been early birds — Jordan did midday shows, while Thomas worked afternoons. A new door quite literally opened for them: The morning show across the hall moved out, and the duo moved in.
“We were really tight as coworkers and we hung out a lot outside of work, and we just felt like we had the rapport that maybe we could do something in mornings that would be fun,” Thomas said. “And so they gave us that opportunity to try it out, and it failed, and we ended up getting fired. But it was a huge learning experience for us, and it actually led to this opportunity here in 2002.”
Timmerman later joined the show (he now has 11 years under his belt), and a Q102 internship during college eventually led to Fritsch’s joining the program. And yet, it never feels like too many cooks in the kitchen.
“There’s four of us, and each one of us has a very different perspective on life,” Timmerman said. “And so I think we all offer a different way to connect.”
”Even when one of us is missing, the dynamic of the show is different,” Fritsch said.
Despite being disembodied voices, connection is key.
“I want to feel like we’re connecting with people every day,” Thomas said. “That’s just really it for me.”
While Jordan acknowledges that the “heyday” of radio may be over, to the crew, it’s far from obsolete. Especially in this town.
Thomas said, among the cities he’s worked in, Cincinnati stands apart in the way its radio industry and its personalities have remained consistent.
“ Cincinnati’s really unique in that because we don’t really take kindly to change, it might be easier to hang in there a little bit longer,” he said.
Timmerman, who runs his own nature-focused podcast separately, still sees radio’s relevance.
“Someone asked me one time, ‘Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if there was like a podcast that could go live and tell something that was happening in that moment?’” Timmerman said. “And I said, “There is. It’s called radio.’”
Yet in an age where the relevance and longevity of radio is called into question, the crew haven’t resisted evolving to keep that connection they value going. Alongside maintaining an on-air presence, their program is available to stream online in podcast format (search for the “Jeff & Jenn Podcast” wherever you get your podcasts, or find it in the podcast section at wkrq.com).
You can also find them IRL at community events, or just in the wild (for the record, they love meeting fans).
Connection is just as key within the walls of the studio.
”All four of us live really different lives,” Thomas said. “But the fact that we’re able to coexist and connect with each other, and get along and relate to each other and have this weird, rarefied chemistry is a gift. I’m not really sure how you bottle that, but it feels like a family dynamic. The kind of dynamic you would have with your siblings that you kind of get along with.”
“Most of the time!” Jordan interjected.
Despite the clamor around radio as a dying art, the minds behind “Jeff & Jenn” know that they’re reaching a wide swath of people — and they’re mindful about it.
”Having a platform where we can reach as many people as we do every week — that’s a great responsibility,” Jordan said. “To make sure that we’re not just having fun, that we’re also being kind, and that we’re setting good examples.”
They concede that the 4 a.m. (or earlier) wake-up times are something you never get used to, no matter how long your industry tenure. Yet the team is still there, morning after morning, and they currently have no plans of stopping.
For them, the 2026 Best of recognition speaks volumes within their studio space (although the plaque will likely end up on display with the others at Fritsch’s house).
“ That’s a huge vote of confidence, and that’s meaningful to us,” Thomas said. “And that appreciation’s not lost on us.”
This article appears in Best of Cincinnati 2026.
