The Trib’s Phil Rosenthal writes about the power shift that will occur in morning drive, as the current crop of jocks and talkers will have to make way for the return of Steve Dahl to the daypart.

The gist of the piece is that as much as things have changed since Dahl last did mornings, the more they’ve stayed the same. Morning drive is a tough nut to crack, and few corporations have the patience to wait out a new act that’s not catching on.

Rosenthal also goes on to extol the virtues of “tried and true” personalities:

Formats come and go, and WCKG’s FM talk format is gone, with everyone but those on Dahl’s show dumped and an unveiling of the station’s new format set for next week or so. But tried-and-true personalities remain as much a part of morning drive in Chicago as rush-hour backups on the Eisenhower Expressway. Part of it is that’s what Chicago listeners apparently want.

Of course, there’s also much defense of Dahl’s move to JACK-FM by CBS Radio exec Rod Zimmerman:

In Zimmerman’s view, the Jack FM format, designed as a music sampler without live personalities and limited interruption, has done all right on WJMK in middays and afternoons but needed a boost in the mornings. He sees the addition of Dahl to mornings as “a real shot in the arm for the radio station that … solidifies the station, makes it a more well-rounded, more local broadcast.”

There definitely seems to be a consistent PR campaign on behalf of the suits at CBS to frame this move as a positive thing for Dahl and the company. However, Zimmerman’s comments border on damning JACK-FM with faint praise.

If Steve Dahl wasn’t able to provide a shot in the arm to WCKG — an FM talk station that carried him in the daypart best suited to his talent — what makes CBS think that moving him to JACK-FM into a very competitive daypart will be successful? It’s going to be a tough sell.

UPDATE: Sean Ross over at The Infinite Dial seems to think Dahl on JACK makes sense.

MORE REACTION: Here.

UPDATE: Bob & Ron, longtime contributors to Dahl’s show on WCKG, have a post up about their future with the show.