How a Retired Police Sergeant Turned the Microphone Toward Truth
John Jay Wiley isn’t just the host of the Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast, he’s a voice for those behind the badge. A retired Baltimore Police Sergeant, Wiley’s journey into media began with pain, purpose, and a deep need for authentic storytelling.
Wounded in the line of duty during a violent encounter, Wiley was forced into early retirement in 1992 with permanent injuries. But his service didn’t end with his badge. Around 1999, after meeting his wife Stephanie Wiley, John began experimenting with audio blogs and local terrestrial radio. What started as curiosity quickly became a calling.
“There were so few platforms where police could speak honestly,” Wiley says. “The public only saw what the media told them, and often that wasn’t even close to the full story, or the truth.”
During his time both on patrol and behind the mic, Wiley noticed a glaring issue: law enforcement officers rarely had a voice in their own narratives. Long before departments had their own PR teams or social media channels, agencies handed control of their stories to the press, and the results were often incomplete, biased, or flat-out wrong.
As media outlets grew more politically driven and sensationalist, Wiley saw the need for the return of storytelling, one rooted in real experiences, lived trauma, and the human side of policing. The stories of survival, of healing, of life after crisis, these were missing. And these were the voices that needed to be heard.
“Behind every badge is a person, someone who’s faced the unthinkable and kept going,” Wiley explains. “We needed a space where their stories mattered.”
So in March 2017, John Jay Wiley combined his law enforcement experience, his growing media skills, and a mission: to provide a platform for real conversations from and about law enforcement. The Law Enforcement Talk Radio Show and Podcast was born.
What started as a grassroots podcast quickly caught the attention of a radio station in Upstate New York. From there, the momentum didn’t stop.
Today, the show is nationally syndicated through Talk Media Network, airing weekly on hundreds of radio stations across the United States. The podcast has soared into the top 0.05% of all podcasts worldwide, continuing to grow its audience and amplify new voices.
Whether it’s officers sharing lessons from the field, survivors of trauma finding healing, or everyday heroes rebuilding their lives after service, this show exists to give them the mic.
Want to Be a Guest?
If you have a story worth sharing—from your experiences in law enforcement or your journey after—we want to hear from you.
📧 Email: jay@letradio.com