In what’s become an almost daily occurrence in the Chicago radio universe, change is afoot in morning drive.

Phil Rosenthal is reporting that Emmis Communication’s Q101 has booted Alan Cox and Jim Lynam and replaced them with the afternoon tandem of Brian Sherman and Steve Tingle, effective August 11.

Cox and Lynam were the only survivors last November when WKQX ditched its original “Morning Fix,” a bold but flawed 14-month experiment with ensemble comedy in morning drive after the 2006 ouster of Erich “Mancow” Muller. In the last eight months, the “Fix” was more focused on music with Cox as host and Lynam handling headlines, sports and traffic.

It’s hard to tell what direction Q101 really wants to go, as they haven’t really done much with morning drive, save for the Mancow era.

In the Spring 2008 Arbitron ratings period, Q101 ranked 21st in overall share for persons 12+. In mornings, the station was ranked 26th. However, in persons 18-34, the morning show ranked 10th and was 8th in persons 12-17.

UPDATE: Larz from ChicagolandRadioandMedia has his thoughts up on his blog.

UPDATE 2: Feder is on it, too. Complete with a copy of Q101′s e-mail to listeners [PDF].