SYRACUSE (Updated 12:30pm on 3/14) -- Buckley Broadcasting GM Judy Kelly now confirms the dismissal of Diane Wade from Classic Hits 92.1 (WSEN) following her air shift Friday. Kelly says "it's simply a matter of economics" and she hopes conditions improve soon.
Responding to our questions on Saturday morning, Kelly tells CNYRadio.com she's "very sad" to confirm the news. She adds, "I've worked with Diane for the past 15 years and she's a great DJ."
Kelly also confirms Floyd Wright will take over the shift. He's the same guy who replaced Bob Brown on sister station Oldies 1390 (WFBL) last month, via voicetracking from Buckley's WDRC in Hartford, Connecticut. But he won't be voicetracking both shifts. Instead, WFBL's own Dick Mastriano will take over the morning shift on WFBL.
For those of you keeping score at home, that's Floyd Wright moving from WFBL mornings to WSEN middays. Dick Mastriano moves to WFBL mornings. Judy Kelly says "mid-days [on WFBL] will roll without a personality for now." All of these changes will be effective as of Monday.
Interestingly, when we did a Google Image Search, hoping to get Wade's picture for this article -- we got a cached version of her WSEN bio photo -- posted on an entirely different website. For some reason, when you visit the website www.latinotropical.com -- it points to WSEN's website. You can click on everything -- just as if you were visiting the site at its regular address, wsenfm.com.
According to a WHOIS listing for the domain, latinotropical.com is registered to Fort Meyers Broadcasting, owners of WINK-TV, WINK-AM/FM and several other radio stations in Fort Meyers, Florida. Why would they register a domain and point it to a Syracuse radio station's website?
Judy Kelly graciously responded to our questions about this matter as well. She says she's just as stumped about this one as we are. "We've asked them to cease and decist, but so far we've had no success."
Last but not least, we hate to make light of the fact that Wade was let go on Friday the 13th -- but having two Friday the 13ths in back-to-back months has proven especially unlucky in CNYRadio.com territory this year. Exactly one month ago, Saga Broadcasting threw two WIII personalities out on the street.
Checking the calendar, we've got one more Friday the 13th left in 2009. We hope the fact that November is right in the middle of the fall book will mean November 13 won't be as unlucky as February and March were.
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Our thanks to the CNYRadio.com readers who alerted us to this story. As always, we're honoring their requests for anonymity. We'll do the same for you, anytime -- just request it when you use our Contact form -- or if you're really paranoid, you can skip the name and e-mail fields entirely.
Isn’t it “wonderful” to see another head on the Syracuse Radio Chopping Block? How nice it will be to hear another out-of-town voice tracker join the voices of Syracuse radio. Won’t it be nice to hear their attempts to pronounce Oswego, and some of the other area names as they try to “marry” our community? Seeing these people at local events will really make them a part of the “home town pride“. Their interest in our city has been a dream come true for all of us. What could be more local and sincere than some guy in Hartford, talking about the great Big East playoffs. You know he rooted for UCON.. Maybe we’ll see him in the St. Patty’s Day Parade down Salina Street.. Not likely, but for a few hours on the radio, he’ll be “Mr. Syracuse” and kiss the listener’s fanny attempting to be “one of us”. What a JOKE.
Back in 1961, Former Chairman of the FCC, Newton Minow, addressed the NAB and said;
“When television is good, nothing—not the theater, not the magazines or newspapers—nothing is better.
But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and loss sheet or rating book to distract you—and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
In Minow's view, to serve the public interest... His phrase, "vast wasteland", is remembered years after the speech.
OK, so that was about TV. Change the words to Radio and TV, and here we are today.
What a mess.
This whole mess in radio and TV is due to deregulation. Blame the Bush administration!