Every weekday, Kerry Jackson, Bill Allred and Gina Barberi wake at an ungodly hour. It is, they say, the worst part of their jobs.

And after decades of waking at 3 a.m., there are times when they wonder how much longer they’ll keep doing this. X96’s Radio From Hell is 40 years old now.

“It doesn’t seem possible,” Allred said.

“It’s unusual for a radio show to go that long,” Barberi adds.

But no matter how bleary-eyed they might be, there is always a reason to keep going. Their show, after all, is for people “who feel like hell in the morning.”

And there are a lot of those these days, who need Kerry, Bill and Gina to make fun of and make sense of the world. So from 6-10 a.m., every weekday, the show goes on.

“We are the lords of morning radio,” Allred said.

His smooth voice, Barberi’s expressive resonance, and Jackson’s crisp timbre have traveled over radio airwaves for decades.

There’s a sense of disbelief that their morning show is celebrating 40 years.

But, Jackson said, as they hear stories about generations of Utahns who have been tuning in — who first started listening with their parents or grandparents and continue to do so — it starts to hit them.

In the era of streaming, where there is a cornucopia of podcast personalities to choose from, Radio from Hell’s longevity is not only a credit to the three co-hosts and their timeless chemistry, but to the community that has formed as a result.

The talk-radio change

Stephanie Peterson, one of those community members, has been listening to the show since she moved to Utah in 1993.

“It’s like your friends talking to you every single day,” Peterson said. “The times when they’re on vacation, it’s really difficult because it’s such a big part of my morning.”

At the same time, Peterson said fans like her are “waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“All of us who listen to them constantly are like, ‘Ugh they’re going to go away someday.’ I know what’s gonna happen, and I’m so scared for that day to come,” Peterson said. “That’s just the nature of the business because and it’s just a blessing they’ve been able to do this for as long as they have.”

Peterson admires the show most for its “interactive nature” and remembers when the show took on a more collaborative format: Sept. 11, 2001.

“On 9/11, we stopped playing music and just talked,” Barberi recalled.

They encouraged listeners to call in, to share their thoughts and fears as the tragedy unfolded across the country. At the time, the studio where the show was recorded was in a building that had a coffee shop.

From a window in their studio, they saw the shop slowly fill up with people as the show ran on.

“We didn’t ask them to come down, but [people] just felt like they needed a place to congregate. This horrible thing is happening and we all want to be in the same place,” Barberi said.

Before that day, the show played five or six songs an hour, much to the host’s chagrin.

“We had been saying to management for quite some time, we really ought to cut out most of the music we’re playing and just do a talk-oriented [show],” Allred said.

Their argument was to cut back on the music because there was only one thing that people couldn’t get anywhere but X96 — Kerry, Bill and Gina.

They used to do written sketches, Jackson said, but it was clear what people wanted.

“I’d work on editing a sketch for four hours, playing back the next day and not get anything. But Gina talks about not allowing her dog on the carpet only on the tile and that becomes a thing for days,” Jackson said.

After 9/11, Allred said management came to them with the idea for a talk-radio format.

The evolution of “Radio from Hell”

When Jackson and Allred first started the show in 1986 in Ogden with KJQ, they said all the radio shows were the same.

“These deep voice guys that laughed at their own jokes, it was every stereotype you’ve ever encountered, lots of happy talk, so Bill and I said, ‘Let’s do the opposite of everything that they are doing,’” Jackson said.

Barberi joined the show in 1996, completing the trio. Their back-and-forth banter is infectious: Allred’s joyful antagonism, Barberi’s genuine stories and Jackson’s leveled opinions.

Over the years, Allred said they’ve also loosened up their content.

“I don’t know how many fewer F’s we can give than we do now,” he said.

They unabashedly offer their opinions on local and national news — a mindset that has outlived owners, managers, consultants and program directors. Their segments, like “Boner of the Day” — which highlights outrageous news stories — are tried and true.

The studio where they record has a long, round desk and a cubby for each host. The space has decor crammed in everywhere: a Barberi jersey, nerd memorabilia, Pride flags.

Caity Solo, the show’s producer, has more decor in her office. Her Chocolate Labrador, Vax, has his own sponsored camera and he frequently appears on the live stream.

For listener Sum Gye (an alias used in the show’s chat room where he is an active participant) the way “Radio from Hell” recaps the news stands out.

“They try to be kind [and] inclusive to everybody,” he said. He notes the show’s work on the Pride Parade in past years or its “Ask the Lieutenant Governor” segment with now-Gov. Spencer Cox.

“That’s very valuable in the current political climate, especially,” said the man, who has been a listener for 30 years.

Some listeners have followed the show from morning rides to high school with a family member, through college and still make it part of their daily commute to work.

The show has also evolved with the times. Allred used to stop at the gas station every morning on his way into the studio to buy a copy of The Salt Lake Tribune, Deseret News and USA Today.

The cohosts would take one paper each and start cutting out stories they wanted to feature, highlighters and scissors scattered on the desk below their mics.

But the digital age has allowed for more people to feel connected to the show. They’re on Youtube, they live stream, and have a chatroom, too. The trusty phone lines remain.

“We have listeners all over the world. They’ll listen every day in real time or podcast us, and they’ll call, text or email us,” Barberi said. “We have people that are from here that move and take us with them.”

The secret to success

The secret to keeping their radio show going, Barberi said, is to treat it like a marriage. “Some marriages last six months and some for 50 [years]. … The chemistry of this works.”

And that chemistry is carefully maintained. Outside of the show, they don’t hang out much, Jackson said.

“Soon as we’re done with the show,” Jackson begins. “Gina goes home,” Allred finishes.

They save their banter and stories from their lives — which have become a mainstay of the show — for the air.

The marriage metaphor extends in other ways.

All three hosts have met or reconnected with their spouses through the show. Barberi’s husband reached out when he heard her on the show, Allred met his wife when he and Jackson were DJing at a club, and Jackson met his wife through a live audience show at a bagel shop in Olympus Cove.

Instead of just being the stewards, the hosts of Utah’s longest-running radio show have become participants in the community they cultivated.

They also know there will come a time when the beloved show ends. Like it or not, they’re getting older. The work is demanding.

But the hosts are motivated by the sense of responsibility they have to their listeners, who tune in day in and day out.

“I don’t want to let them down,” Allred said.