Personality Behind the Profile: The Size Up by National Fire Radio

The host of the podcast “The Size Up” by National Fire Radio (NFR) and director of 555 Fitness, Robert “Pip” Piparo’s social media career was propelled by a single message.

Pip began his career in the fire service in 1999 as a volunteer firefighter. He was then hired by the New Brunswick, NJ, Fire Department in 2004, the same department that his dad retired from.

Fast forward years later and following the 555 Fitness Facebook page (now with more than 44k followers), he shot a message wanting to help the brand. This propelled him into the fire service and fitness world. His job for 555 Fitness was to run its Instagram. Now, Pip’s personal Instagram account has over 6,500 followers, while the 555 Fitness Instagram page has over 54.9k followers.

Eventually, Pip crossed paths with Jeremy Donch from NFR and invited him on to an NFR episode. The two kept running into each other at events and Donch asked Pip if he ever wanted to do his own podcast.

“The Size Up” debuted in 2020 with Pip as the host, but a few episodes into the series, Covid hit. Additionally, Pip was going through his own personal mental struggles. He opened up to Firehouse, mentioning the mental drain of working as a first responder during the pandemic, having a wife that worked in a level one trauma center, two little boys and elderly parents.

“I went through my own personal demons during that time. For whatever reason it was, it got to a point where I had to get back into the groove. I had to get back on the fitness train. Let's get this podcast going again. I can't let this break me,” said Piparo.

The idea of “The Size Up” was to talk to guests about their lives outside of the fire service. Donch would cover the actual job, and Pip would look beyond that.

“I was trying to learn more about what they thought about themselves and their own lives outside of the job. As the episodes grew, Jeremy and I both realized that what you do off the job matters, so that was the overwhelming theme of the show,” said Piparo.

Pip has had conversations that discovered BMX biking, wrestlers, authors, family people and so many different journeys.

“I had a former firefighter tell his addiction story on the podcast that I didn't even know existed. The reason I had him on the show was his artistic abilities, or so I thought. Then he, for the first time, opened up publicly about a struggle with addiction,” said Piparo.

The recognition of Pip’s work with 555 Fitness and NFR even grew into a Verizon commercial that aired during the Oscars. The idea of the commercial is that due to Pip and his wife’s occupations, they used Verizon to communicate during Covid-19.

“That wouldn't have happened for me had I not been doing all the things I was doing on social media,” said Piparo.

During the filming process, they hit some emotional strings of Pip’s and were able to get a close shot of his emotions as he tried to answer the question about his wife.

As it stands in 2025, “The Size Up” has released an episode every week for nearly two years.