In the wake of Pat Cassidy’s defection from WBBM-AM to WLS-AM, the Trib’s Phil Rosenthal offers up some advice for WLS management:

Take the block from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. in which Don and Roma Wade segue to Jerry Agar at 9 a.m. and slide newsman-turned-talker Cassidy, either alone or with a partner, into the first three hours with the Wades taking over at 8 a.m.

Now, Rosenthal’s thinking is based on the fact that, under Arbitron’s new PPM methodology for measuring audience behavior, the Wades notched a 6 share, considerably higher than the 3.2 share that they posted under the diary system. The new numbers rank the Wades as the third highest morning show in Chicago.

The only problem with that logic is that the 6 share number is misleading. While I have not seen the PPM data that’s being released that shows the Wades in such an advantageous position, my guess it that the data represents persons 12+, which is a nearly meaningless number in the world of broadcast sales.

The much more important number is the persons 25-54 number, the so-called “money” demo. This is where Don Wade & Roma have struggled in recent years. Their 25-54 audience has eroded quickly as they have aged. Advertisers want to reach that demographic, and the Wades have not been delivering.

It would not make much sense for WLS to keep an older morning duo, making a considerable salary, in place for another two or three years, during which time their 25-54 numbers will continue to diminish.

Rather, it makes more sense to re-invent mornings with new, fresh faces, even if one of those faces is 57-year-old Pat Cassidy. At least it’s something different.

While Don & Roma are well-liked by many fans, and by the tone of both Rosenthal and Feder’s recent columns, the local scribes as well, it does not seem to be in the best interests of WLS to keep them in morning drive past the end of the contracts in November.