NorthEast Radio Watch 10/28/2024: News Changes at GBH

In this week’s issue… GBH shuffles mornings, prepares new show launches – NYSBA inducts Hall of Famers – More news-talk in the Hudson Valley – Remembering Dan Sys

By SCOTT FYBUSH

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*After two and a half years of an experiment in morning drive, Boston’s WGBH (89.7) is moving its unusual two-person local “Morning Edition” hosting team to new roles beginning today.

At most public radio stations, including Boston competitor WBUR (90.9), the show has only one local host handling local content alongside the national hosts from NPR in Washington and California, but as the number two player on the Boston public radio scene, WGBH tried something very different beginning in February 2022, pairing Paris Alston and Jeremy Siegel in that role.

It was an attempt to differentiate GBH’s morning drive from the more traditional approach at WBUR, with Siegel and Alston providing a more conversational, younger-sounding version of Morning Edition in hopes of gaining the same listener base that has brought GBH success in middays with its “Boston Public Radio” pairing of Margery Eagan and Jim Braude.

It’s not clear why the station is shifting course now under its new news boss Dan Lothian, but here’s what we do know: Alston will move over to TV and social media, helming a relaunched version of GBH’s long-running “Basic Black,” which started in the 1960s and was abruptly cancelled in May. That show, under a new name, will return in 2025; Alston will also be expanding her “Walk Down the Block” social media series focusing on Boston neighborhoods.

Siegel, who’s always had a focus on transit and transportation, will become the transportation correspondent for GBH News and “The World,” its national partnership with the BBC. He’ll also be at the helm of a new statewide hour-long radio show and podcast that will debut sometime next year on GBH, its Cape and Islands stations and New England Public Media in western Massachusetts.

Starting today, Morning Edition on GBH will hit the air at 6 AM instead of 5 AM, with reporter Mark Herz as interim host while the station searches for a new host.