NorthEast Radio Watch 11/4/2024: Cumulus Consolidates in RI

In this week’s issue… “Hot” cools down in Providence, CT studios closed – GBH to sell Cape studios – A HEBA in Hamden? – New HDs in New York – Another Canadian AM to close

By SCOTT FYBUSH

Jump to: ME – NH – VT – MA – RI – CT – NY – NJ – PA – Canada

*Fans of hip-hop in RHODE ISLAND are looking for a new station this week after Cumulus pulled the plug on the long-running “Hot 106.3”, WWKX Woonsocket/Providence, ending 25 years of the format on the little class A signal that rimshots Providence from the northwest.

The end of “Hot” didn’t happen all at once: first, morning hosts Mike DaSilva and Alexus Lee lost their jobs on Wednesday after what turned out to be their last morning shows.

“I’m still trying to process it,” DaSilva posted after the show. “There’s no ill will or anger, just business. In any business, nothing is guaranteed. Right now, I mostly feel sadness. I grew up here, not just in my career but personally too. So much of my life happened while working at Hot 106. Things I dreamed of and cherished, things I shared with our audience along the way. It feels like leaving your childhood home. Even if you get a new place, there’s something special about the one you leave behind.”

A 12-year WWKX veteran, DaSilva had only recently been joined by Lee, a local singer-songwriter.

After their dismissals, WWKX began stunting, spending all day on Halloween playing songs with spooky-themed titles, then kicking off November (the “Day of the Dead”) with 24 hours of Grateful Dead music before relaunching early Saturday morning as “106.3 the Wolf.”

The new “Wolf” is branding on the air as “102.3 and 106.3 the Wolf,” but it’s not exactly a simulcast with WMOS (102.3 Stonington), the classic rock station Cumulus has been running from a studio at the Mohegan Sun casino in CONNECTICUT. Instead – at least for now – the two signals are sharing a common playlist, but with separate legal IDs and spot loads.

Why create a semi-simulcast of two signals that don’t really overlap at all, with a big gap over central Rhode Island between them? It’s part of Cumulus’ cost-cutting, which has reportedly closed down the remaining local operations the company still had in the New London market. That wasn’t a very big cluster – just WMOS, with its studios at the casino, along with top-40 WQGN (105.5) and talk WXLM (980), with an entirely syndicated schedule.