‘The Sweet Spot’ isn’t all sugar

Casey Reinhardt and Mahsa Townsend didn’t have a tough task when they coined the name for their radio show. All they needed was a short phrase that encompassed the cupcake business, the real estate business and the general topic of love and relationships.

The answer was simple: “The Sweet Spot.” Or, at least, it’s simple in Reinhardt’s telling.

“I’m, obviously, in the sweets business — cupcakes,” explained the co-host of KX 93.5 FM’s Sunday night show, which launched shortly before the new year. “And then Mahsa is in real estate, so it’s a spot.”

That’s “spots,” of course, as in decent spots to call home. And it’s not the only way Reinhardt and Townsend play up their dissimilarities. The show’s official logo shows two silhouetted figures, one sporting a pink apron and holding a giant cupcake and the other leaning casually in what appears to be business attire. The show’s description on the station website trumpets the hosts’ “totally different backgrounds.”

In terms of comparing those backgrounds, a two-column chart might work better than a paragraph. Reinhardt works in confections as the owner of Casey’s Cupcakes, Townsend in real estate. Reinhardt hails from Laguna Beach, Townsend from Iran, which her family fled amid political turmoil. Reinhardt is single, Townsend married with a son.

OK, when it comes to age, they are not too far apart. Reinhardt is in her late 20s, Townsend in her early 30s.

On the other hand, they’re both savvy businesswomen. And they both believe in a combination of modernity and chivalry, which is to say that they pursue lucrative careers while preferring that the man pick up the dinner check.

It’s that delicate chemistry, for “The Sweet Spot” creators, that keeps their program exciting week after week. And it’s what convinced Tyler Russell, the founder and program director of KX, to take a chance on a pair of first-time hosts.

Russell met Reinhardt, a Newport Beach resident whose company owns six Southern California locations, at a mutual friend’s birthday party. She soon introduced him to Townsend, of Tustin, whom she had met through a man she dated, and the three sat down to brainstorm ideas for a show.

The ultimate topic for “The Sweet Spot” arose from that conversation, according to Russell.

“The girls spent so much time talking about their dates or husbands or experiences with guys that it was just kind of a natural, organic fit for them to be hosting on that subject,” he said. “So it sort of came together. We sat down for like an hour, and they gave me some girl advice, I think.”

So what was the advice?

“I can’t remember what it was that day,” Russell said. “They give me some every time I see them, I feel like.”

Advice is Reinhardt and Townsend’s metier. Every Sunday at 9 p.m., the two go on the air to talk about the ins and outs of relationships: friendship, romance, family and more. Their first show in January outlined love-life resolutions for the new year; a recent episode invited callers to debate the reasons men cheat on their partners.

Though the hosts consider their personalities different — Townsend harder and more outspoken, Reinhardt calmer and sweeter — they didn’t begin the show as Siskel and Ebert-style adversaries. The two have been close friends for more than five years, and Reinhardt served as maid of honor at Townsend’s wedding.

“We’re living two completely separate lives, but we have very similar morals and values, and we both are very business-oriented and very business-minded,” Reinhardt said. “We connect on that level.”

That bond grows even tighter when Reinhardt and Townsend have a foil on the air. During the cheating episode, which aired Feb. 9, the hosts discussed infidelity with a slew of males, including a guest who attributed such behavior to genetic hard-wiring and a caller from South Carolina who dismissed it as a symptom of rotten human nature.

After the last caller, the time came for closing statements.

“Oh my gosh,” Townsend said. “I would — this is insane to me. Men, this is making me so sad.”

“I wish we would have, like, taken a poll of how many people, like men, think it’s OK to cheat if their girlfriends or wives don’t find out,” Reinhardt added.

“All of them are gonna say yes, except my husband,” Townsend retorted. “Because he knows I know his voice.”

The Sweet Spot

Format: Talk radio

Hosts: Casey Reinhardt and Mahsa Townsend

Time: 9 p.m. Sunday

Station: KX 93.5 FM