Every once in awhile, a story so groundbreaking and earth-shattering comes along that KHTS AM-1220 Station Manager Kyle Jellings runs into the newsroom and screams, “Stop the presses” — which is weird, because we’re a radio station, and most days, I’m almost certain he knows this.

This is not such a story.

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The host of “The Real Side with Joe Messina,” yes, you guessed it, Joe Messina, was recently named to a list of the “Hottest Conservative Supermen in America,” as an honorable mention, by the PolitiChicks political blog.

“I’ve been called to fill in for some of those people when they can’t make it on their show, so I guess it’s a big deal,” said Messina, with a laugh. “I’m not quite as big as Rush (Limbaugh), and I’m talking size here.”

The PolitiChicks blog is authored by independent, accomplished conservative women, according to the site.

The list included the famous radio personalities, such as Rush Limbaugh, Larry Elder and Dennis Prager, which proves almost conclusively you don’t have to be good looking to be a successful conservative radio personality.

The list was chosen on the following grounds, according to PolitiChicks website: intelligence, courage, passion, sense of humor and looks.

No one at the station was able to figure out on which grounds Messina made it, but the station is happy for him, all the same, according to a news release put out Tuesday.

Messina took the news with a grain of salt, adding that when he first heard about the announcement, he giggled.

“I don’t know what it means — I don’t know what to do with it,” Messina said of the nod.

Messina’s show broadcasts from KHTS AM-1220 studios in Canyon Country, but it’s syndicated to Riverside, Orange and San Bernardino counties, as well as near the New York-Vermont border, Philadelphia and Santa Barbara.

His KHTS roots stretch back to January 2010, when he filled in for KHTS radio show host Fred Arnold.

When Messina’s daily 2 p.m. time slot opened up, Jellings briefly considered allowing dead air for an hour, but later thought the better of it.

“I thought to myself, ‘Why not give the hour to intelligent political dialogue?’” Jellings said, in an interview. “And then when that idea failed, I found Messina in the hallway trying to figure out how to plug in a USB port and figured, ‘What the heck?’”

Messina has spent more than 30 years in the technology industry, and now runs his own business consulting firm, Wildcat Business Group.

In addition to his expertise in technology consulting for businesses, he is active in the Santa Clarita Valley as the board president for the William S. Hart Union High School District.

Messina is also active in the Dunamis Group, which organizes the Mayors Prayer Breakfast every year and consistently draws the ire of Messina opponents.

“When I started off, it was going to be hardcore politics — and I realized everybody does that and that would be boring,” Messina said. “So I decided to start doing hot topics of the day, the week,” he said.

“I’ve done stories about mommy and me pole dancing classes all the way to the city council that refused to do the Pledge of Allegiance because it was too divisive,” he said.

Thankfully, the PolitiChicks could not be reached for comment, although I’m not sure what I’d have to say to them at this point.

“The Real Side with Joe Messina” can heard on KHTS AM-1220 from Monday to Friday at 2 p.m., on the KHTS mobile app or live-streamed on hometownstation.com.

In case you can’t tell, this story was written entirely tongue-in-cheek, and Messina is beloved by almost all members of the KHTS family — most days.

Do you have a news tip? Call us at (661) 298-1220, or drop us a line at community@hometownstation.com.

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