CBS Heaves It To Stever

Last month’s firing of radio legend Steve Dahl and his staff was shocking – but not out of character – for CBS Radio.

A few weeks earlier, B96’s longtime morning team, Eddie Volkman and Joe “Jobo” Bohannon, were dumped by CBS Radio with eight months left in their contracts – and no chance to say goodbye. In June, CBS-owned WSCR let Mike North go when they could not settle on a contract – worth less than the $1.5 million the former hot-dog vendor had been making (North’s WEBio show streams 9 to 11 a.m. weekdays at Northtonorth.com).

That’s about what Dahl, Volkman, and Bohannon were earning, and their firings came in the wake of poor ratings via Artibtron’s Portable People Meter, which uses a new methodology to report listenership. According to PPMs, middays are now the biggest daypart – not morning drive. “The days of the overpaid morning star and everybody else making chicken feed may be over,” Volkman told Radio-info.com. We thinks the days of decently paid local personalities are over, period.

Dahl, who said a dignified goodbye to listeners, had two-and-a-half years remaining on his JACK-FM (105.9) contract – sidekick Buzz Kilman was not so lucky – and at press time had no plans to go back on the air (find out the latest at Dahl. com). In an ideal world, he’d reunite with Garry Meier and do afternoons on WGN-AM (720). Not that the beleaguered Tribune Co. could afford them.

On that same “Black Friday,” CBS canned US99 nighttime personality and 30-year radio veteran Wild Bill Garcia as well as WSCR sports news anchor Fred Huebner. Chicago Public Radio almost simultaneously dumped 11 staffers, including WBEZ-FM (91.5) producer and former WLUW-FM (88.7) program director Shawn Campell. Perhaps her efforts to bring a community radio station to Chicago will soon bear fruit (visit Chicagoindependentradioproject.org). In an ideal world, CPR head Torey Malatia would hand her control of his beleaguered Vocalo project.

REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL, PT. II: GOING LOCAL: And as corporate belts continue to tighten, media innovation will take place off the radar on these homegrown, low-budget shows.

That’s the case with Scott Davidson‘s “Rebel Radio,” which has been bringing heavy metal and the like to local airwaves since 1994 (Wednesday through Saturday, midnight to 2 a.m. on WSBC-AM (1240) in Chicago and simulcast on WCFJ-FM (1470) in the South suburbs). Davidson and his DJs play a ton of local bands; send promo packs to Rebel Radio, 4320 Dundee, Northbrook, IL 60062.

Chuck Mertz‘s free-wheeling WNUR-FM (89.3) public-affairs talk show “This Is Hell” explores current world events from perspectives often ignored by mainstream media – and makes you laugh while you learn. A recent Question From Hell for listeners and guests: “Which change that you would like to see during the Obama administration will not happen?” Answers ranged from single-payer health care to a two-state solution for Israel/Palestine. It’s on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and online at Thisishell.net.

Though he’s on the most commercial of radio stations, WGN-AM (720), Nick Digilio flies under the radar Friday nights 11 to 2, Saturday nights 8 to midnight, and Sunday nights 10 to 2. The 43-year-old horror-movie fan and playwright is quicker-witted than many better-known (and paid) local personalities, plus he has a vast knowledge of pop culture and does a mean Mayor Daley impersonation. Podcasts are at www.podcastblaster.com/directory/podcast-12524.html.

Steve Cushing‘s handcrafted “Blues Before Sunrise” focuses on the first 50 years of recorded blues music (1920 to 1970), ranging from jump and jive to rhythm and blues, gospel, comedy, and doo wop. Cushing also profiles many of the artists he airs, and has archived interviews with many long-gone greats. It airs Sunday mornings from midnight to 5 a.m. on WDCB-FM (90.9) and at www.wdcb.org.

ODDS ‘N’ SODS: We’re not pleased by Nextmedia’s firing of former Mancow sidekick Freak from his post as program director and daytime jock at Joliet’s WRXQ and WIIL. The man knows his music. Yet at press time he was winterizing his farm and collecting unemployment (visit Myspace.com/southlandfreak) . . . The merger of Sirius and XM has resulted in the loss of XM channels Chrome, Fungus, Raw, Viva, X-Country, Beyond Jazz, Fine Tuning, The System, Caricia, Aguila, and Sports Nation and Sirius’s The Strobe, Sirius Disorder, Backspin, Boombox, Universo Latino, and Movin’ Easy. Subscribers must also pay a premium for Howard Stern on Sirius and Oprah & Friends, and there’s still no Bollywood channel. No wonder Sirius XM’s combined third quarter losses totaled $4.88 billion . . . National Public Radio has been offering first-listens on albums from artists such as Pink, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young, which seems to require quid-pro-quo in on-air coverage. Visit www.npr.org/music . . . You know a print outlet has jumped the shark when it does a flashy redesign aimed at a younger audience that ends up alienating loyal fans. The Chicago Reader did it in 2004; the shrunken paper’s parent company recently fired for bankruptcy protection. Now it’s the Tribune‘s turn at the print equivalent of adding Oliver to “The Brady Bunch” . . . After unveiling Skokie’s new 10-watt emergency-advisory radio station at 1660-AM called WQIQ672 AM, Manager Al Rigoni called the technology “one of the best communications tools to come along ever.” Take that, Internet!

– Cara Jepsen

Category: Columns, Media, Monthly