Welcome to the Grindhouse

In a crowded room that’s shelves were lined with vinyl toys, movie posters and comic books sat a group of people around a table tangled with wires that hung over a Christmas tree.

This is the temporary studio for the Grindhouse Radio, an online pop culture talk show that was nominated for best radio show in October by the “Best of Long Island.” It was created over a year ago by entertainment entrepreneur Brimstone, or William Kucmierowski, 42, of Levittown along with Kim Adragna, 22, of Merrick and Stephen Zambito, 25, of Stonybrook.

As the trio got ready to interview actor Ernie Hudson, of “The Crow,” “Oz” and “Ghostbusters,” Adragna told the Herald about how she went from being a student at Calhoun High School to co-hosting an award-nominated radio station.

When Adragna attended Calhoun High School she had high hopes of becoming a chef. In her senior year she found herself less immersed in cooking and more in tune with Oprah’s last season and listening to Z100’s Z Morning Zoo on her way to school each morning. Adragna admired the way the hosts could make her laugh and smile on a mundane morning while on her way to class. “I wanted to do something like that for people too,” she said.

Adragna’s endeavors in radio began during her education at Farmingdale State College when she helped co-establish the radio station. She served as head of public relations, which led her to take on an internship in the media department of Hound Comics, a Levittown-based publishing company owned by Kucmierowski. She worked with him during the summer after her junior year and, that following semester, served as vice president of Farmingdale’s radio station.

While interning, however, Adragna befriended sales intern Zambito. Kucmierowski reveled in their ability to chat about all items pop culture and, at the same time, never failed to make him laugh. “I like to talk. I’ve been in the hot seat my whole life and I’ve always wanted to have a radio show,” said Kucmierowski. “But I never wanted it to be just me.”

When the show began, it initially ran for an hour and consisted of “us sitting around a table and just talking back and forth,” said Adragna. They doubled that duration last January when a friend of Kucmierowski encouraged them to sign on with iHeartRadio. After putting him in contact with one of their representatives, the trio received news that took their endeavor to a new height. “It was the best Christmas gift ever,” said Zambito.

The show then went into an expansion phase. Kucmierowski brought friends and colleagues on for celebrity appearances and to form segments such as the Peanut Gallery, which hosts its own guest interviews, and Kevin’s Comic Corner, an in-depth look at comic books and movie news led by Kevin Dempsey, a good friend of Kucmierowski.

Zambito said their dynamic is what drives the show. “When one of us isn’t here you can tell,” Adragna added. Each week the trio comes up with a list of topics to highlight in their discussion, “but half the time we sidetrack and just go off on a tangent,” she said and added that their first show on iHeartRadio was planned on a whiteboard like a plan for a football game.

When they’re not interviewing celebrities or discussing pop culture, the Grindhouse trio might be harmonizing in a song of their choosing, playing verbal games like “Kim’s Questions” or telling their funniest stories. “When people listen to us they feel like they’re part of a conversation,” said Zambito and Adragna added, “When we laugh, they laugh with us.”

The ability to connect with her audience struck a chord with Adragna who, just two years ago, was still in college and about to enter the entertainment job market. She said she was grateful that she took her internship at Hound Comics and met the man everyone refers to as Brimstone. “They’re well on their way to becoming their own [entertainment] personalities,” he said of her and Zambito.

The Grindhouse Radio is syndicated at 17 stations, including iHeartRadio, renegaderadio.net and themixx.fm. It is recorded in studio on Monday nights, sent through post-production throughout the weeks and then broadcasted online at separate times for each station. Their upcoming events include a March pre-screening for Power Rangers (2017) at Bellmore Playhouse. The trio is currently working on projects outside of the radio sphere including a video game and a television series to be streamed on Apple, Roku and Amazon. For more information visit its official website at http://www.thegrindhouseradio.com/.