In this week’s issue… Shredd and Ragan move to 97 Rock – GBH cuts local shows – Entercom veteran out at Audacy – Canadian morning host retires – Remembering NYC’s Neal Conan, Fez Whatley
By SCOTT FYBUSH
Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada
*It took four months, but the Cumulus cluster in Buffalo, NEW YORK has made the most obvious move after jettisoning the long-running morning show from classic rock WGRF (97 Rock) back in April.
It’s a comfortable conclusion to a problem that started on March 24, when “Morning Bull” co-host Rob Lederman made racist comments on the air, egged on by host Rich “Bull” Gaenzler and co-host Chris Klein (and later posted as part of the show podcast, which also led to the ouster of longtime PD John Hager.)
Another 97 Rock talent, DJ Jickster, had been holding down mornings ever since – at least until Wednesday, when Shredd and Ragan appeared for the on-air announcement of their change.
Shredd and Ragan predate the Edge identity on 103.3, going all the way back to 1989 and the station’s relaunch as WUFX (“the Fox”); they’ve been morning staples since 1994, a year before the station flipped to the Edge. Their pairing has been so enduring that they remained teamed up in the afternoons from 2006 (when they were replaced by Opie and Anthony) until 2012, when they returned to mornings. (Ironically, one of the morning hosts on WEDG in the interim had been Gaenzler.)
While the move solves a problem on the 97 Rock side of the hallway – not to mention giving the aging Shredd and Ragan a more comfortable older demographic with whom they can keep on going for many more years – it creates a new one on the 103.3 side, where Cumulus hasn’t yet said what happens next.
For now, it appears the Edge format stays put, despite persistent rumors that the company has been considering a country format to challenge Townsquare’s dominant WYRK and Audacy’s upstart WLKK. We know Val Townsend, the former WYRK morning co-host (and Edge alumna) who was forced out earlier this year, won’t be going to Cumulus; last week, the Buffalo News‘ Alan Pergament reported that she’s taken a new post teaching communications courses at Medaille College. (Pergament also has more juicy comments from Townsend about the ways in which she says she was targeted by her former co-hosts, and some potent allegations about how she was ignored by Townsquare management when she tried to complain.)
“I’m definitely done with local radio,” Townsend told Pergament.
*And there’s another late-breaking Cumulus story: Davey Morris has disappeared from the website of WPRO-FM (92.3) in Providence, RHODE ISLAND, where he started as an intern in 1990 before moving to overnights, then afternoons, as well as becoming the PD of both PRO-FM and sister station WWKX (Hot 106.3). Morris, a Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame inductee, had also served at one point as corporate CHR program director for Cumulus.
THE 2025 TOWER SITE CALENDAR IS SHIPPING SOON!
We promised we would reveal the cover of the 2025 calendar, and here it is! (at right)
We chose the 100,000-watt transmitter of the Voice Of America in Marathon, right in the heart of the Florida Keys. This picture has everything we like in our covers — blue skies, greenery, water, and of course, towers! The history behind this site is a draw, too.
We know you’ve been waiting for information on the calendar. Although production was delayed, it is at our printer now and will be shipping starting this weekend. We will ship daily through Christmas Eve. Place your order now for shipping right off the press!
This will be the 24th edition of the world-famous Tower Site Calendar, and your support will determine whether it will be the final edition.
It’s been a complicated few years here, and as we finish up production of the new edition, we’re considering the future of this staple of radio walls everywhere as we evaluate our workload going forward.
The proceeds from the calendar help sustain the reporting that we do on the broadcast industry here at Fybush Media, so your purchases matter a lot to us here – and if that matters to you, now’s the time to show that support with an order of the new Tower Site Calendar. (And we have the new Broadcast Historian’s Calendar for 2025 ready to ship, too. Why not order both?)
Visit the Fybush Media Store and place your order now for the next calendar, get a great discount on previous calendars, and check out our selection of books and videos, too!