Joyner Out at WVAZ, Harvey In
Speculation That Clear Channel May Flip WGCI
In a surprising reshuffling move, Clear Channel has decided to dump Tom Joyner from the morning drive slot on WVAZ-FM after 13 years. Starting on Tuesday, Steve Harvery, currently heard on WGCI-FM, will move into the slot on WVAZ and will be heard on both stations until March 31. No immediate plans have been announced for a new morning program on WGCI.
It’s not clear what motivated the change, especially since Clear Channel owns both stations and, it would seem, by having to marquee urban radio personalities in morning drive, the company could corner the market.
However, the move does seem to fuel specualtion that WGCI may be on the verge of flipping formats. A recent look at the billing numbers for January and February of 2009 show that WGCI has greatly underperformed compared to the first two months from last year. Is it possible that Clear Channel is ready to pull the plug on the landmark station and go in a different direction? WGCI has been hurt by the roll-out of PPMs last year, and with an already soft economy eroding radio revenues, Clear Channel may be ready to consolidate much of its urban billing onto a single station and take WGCI in another direction. Some have speculated that Clear Channel is poised to launch either a country station or an FM talk station on the frequency.
Tom Joyner’s show offers a range of information and entertainment rivaled by NONE. To take his show from the Chicago market is a miscarriage of justice and a decision, seemingly, not well thought out. I do understand that Steve Harvey is the current “in” thing now, but his show sorely lacks the depths of covering the total aspects of African American life. I strongly support Tom and I believe that Clear Channel ought to reconsider its position.
Well I guess they have their reasons for removing Tom Joyner from the morning lineup. Tom Joyner and his team ARE the only reason I listen to V103 at all . Many of my colleagues at work are going to boycott V103 as a result of this move as we do not find Mr. Harvey’s show interesting. I imagine I will switch to a dusties station or WNUA. I hope they rethink this move
Boycott Clear Channel, it may be time to make the plunge to satellite. This move left millions of us here in Chicago angry and hearbroken. The sad part is the best they can do is point us to a full mail box to complain to. BOYCOTT