California Patriot Profile: A Voice Built in California — The Steady Rise of John Phillips

Each week I highlight a Californian whose work, influence, or integrity stands out in a state that too often rewards the opposite. Some earn their audience through activism, others through scholarship, and many through sustained persistence. These profiles are available to all subscribers and guests.

A Conservative Voice For All Of California

Radio talk show host John Phillips belongs firmly in the category of Californians who have built their influence through effort rather than ease. His path into radio was neither scripted nor smooth. It was shaped by long commutes, late nights, and an older kind of determination that reveals itself only when the work is hard. Today, he hosts one of Southern California’s most recognizable midday talk shows on KABC 790 AM (and also KSFO 810 AM), offering thousands of listeners a clear conservative perspective on the forces that shape this state.

From the High Desert to the Control Room

Phillips’ story begins far from California’s political centers. He grew up in Southern California, graduated from Sultana High School in Hesperia, and later returned to teach media there. Those early years were not incidental. They grounded him in the realities of families whose lives are shaped by commutes, budgets, and decisions handed down from a government that rarely sees them.

While in graduate school at Claremont, Phillips applied for a producing job at KABC and was passed over. A year later, the station called him back. The opportunity required a demanding routine: teaching during the day, working radio shifts whenever they were available, attending graduate classes at night, and driving 75 miles each way to make it all fit. He later described that period as “pure hell.” It also delivered the steady, unpretentious voice that listeners recognize today. His rise was slow, difficult, and entirely earned.

Building a Career One Shift at a Time

Before he anchored his own show, Phillips worked nearly every role inside a major-market newsroom. He wrote news copy, anchored sports segments, filled weekend shifts, and produced for KABC’s Al Rantel. These experiences sharpened his instincts and taught him how political narratives move from back rooms to newsrooms. He developed an ability to see the gaps between official statements and the reality they attempt to describe.

By 2014, he joined Jillian Barberie for the launch of “Mid-Day LA,” a pairing that showcased his ability to mix analysis with pace and personality. When KABC later placed him at the helm of The John Phillips Show, the program quickly became a centerpiece of the station’s weekday lineup. Listeners stayed because he treated them like adults and because he refused to substitute volume for substance.

A Mind That Sees the People Behind the Policies

Phillips’ most defining trait is his understanding of the individuals who shape California’s political landscape. He knows their backgrounds, their alliances, the grudges they carry, and the institutional pressures that influence their decisions. His conservatism is informed by this long view of the state’s political class. He understands not only what elected officials claim to support, but the histories that explain why they act as they do.

He remembers which lawmakers rose through which city councils, which consultants guided their early steps, and which lobbyists stood behind them during difficult votes. He recalls bills introduced many years ago and sees the same coalitions reassembling today. When a new policy proposal appears, he is able to place it within its broader lineage and identify the interests that have quietly returned to press their case.

This is interpretation, not recitation. One example came during the debate over countywide recycling mandates. Phillips did not treat the issue as a new idea. He recognized the return of an earlier coalition, explained the incentives that brought it back to life, and outlined the regulatory chain that would logically follow. His listeners walked away with a clear sense of where the policy came from and where it would lead.

A Broad Platform With Local Roots

Phillips’ influence extends far beyond his daily broadcast. He writes for the entire Southern California News Group, including the Orange County Register, the Los Angeles Daily News, Pasadena Star-News, the Daily Breeze, the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. His analysis reaches readers across the region, yet he remains unmistakably local. He focuses on California’s real problems: public safety, regulatory expansion, homelessness, taxes, school decline, and the rising cost of living.

His conservatism is grounded rather than theatrical. It rests on his understanding of how state systems function and how their decisions shape daily life. His audience trusts him because he explains California with clarity and because he speaks from observation rather than abstraction.

So, Does It Matter?

John Phillips matters because California is increasingly guided by institutions and networks that operate with limited public visibility. He has spent decades learning who they are and how they function. As a conservative who values limited government, accountability, and structural integrity, he translates these dynamics into clear explanations that help Californians understand why their state behaves as it does.

His purpose is not to inflame, nor to posture. His purpose is to explain. He gives listeners the context necessary to identify patterns, anticipate outcomes, and see beyond the political theater that often obscures the decisions that shape their lives. He reminds Californians that their government does not act at random. It acts through choices made by individuals whose motives he understands well enough to describe with precision.

I have had a personal friendship with John for many years, and I continue to learn from him every time we interact. In a state that drifts further into opacity and diminished accountability, Phillips provides something essential: clarity. In every sense of the word, he is a patriot.

How to follow John Phillips

The John Phillips Show on KABC Radio

John on X

John’s columns at the Orange County Register

If you missed it, here’s a one-on-one interview I conducted with John back in September…

One-On-One Interview With KABC Talk Radio Host John Phillips

Jon Fleischman · Sep 4

Don’t Miss This Captivating Interview with John Phillips!

Read full story

Check Out Our Library of 21 Other California Patriot Profiles!

Each week, we profile an exemplary California conservative. Previous profiles have been of Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, Political Law Attorney Chuck Bell, Federal Judge Roger Benitez, the late Andrew Breitbart, actor and comedian Adam Carolla, HJTA President Jon Coupal, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow, actor Kelsey Grammer, investigative journalist Katy Grimes, pro-liberty attorney Julie Hamill, historian Victor Davis Hanson, Dr. Charles Kesler, Editor of the Claremont Review of Books, Congressman Kevin Kiley, talk radio host John Kobylt, Pastor Rob McCoy of Turning Point Faith, Former CAGOP Chairman Ron Nehring, the late Second Amendment champion Sam Paredes, talk radio host Dennis Prager, actor Gary Sinise, economist and author Thomas Sowell, actor James Woods, and constitutional scholar John Yoo. You can go here to see them all! If you have an idea for a patriot to profile, let me know!