ITHACA/CORTLAND -- Listeners of News-Talk 870 WHCU will notice a few changes to the station's weekend programming schedule starting this weekend. A longtime local real-estate show is leaving the lineup, and a Sunday gardening show is being replaced.
According to an email blast sent to listeners in the "WHCU Insiders Club" today, House Call host Susan Lustick "wants to step away from the microphone and spend more time with her family." The email says Lustick has been hosting the show for two years, but it is also going to "say goodbye" to the show as well, which has been "the house 'sold' name in the Ithaca area since 1989."
The 30-minute House Call will be heard for the last time this Saturday at 9:30am, and a rerun normally airs on Sundays at 6:30am. No word in the email blast or on the station website regarding any replacement for the show. We can't help but wonder if the plans, at least for the short-term, might involve an expansion of the existing Saturday Morning Newswatch, which currently ends at 9:15.
On Sunday mornings, the Garden Hotline with Ralph Snodsmith is out. The station replaces Snodsmith's 2-hour timeslot at 8am with another horticulturally-focused show called Easy Gardening, hosted by Mark Viette.