Jessica Hoey calculated her show, Mornings with Bo and Jess on CKCE-FM (101.5 Today Radio) Calgary, Alberta was about to undergo major changes. Her co-host, Bobby May, had already warned her that he planned to leave the station in March. Hoy didn't expect management to fire her and replace the show with a twin podcast located nearly 200 miles away and airing on multiple stations.
“I was very shocked when they let me go,” says Hoy, who, however, points out that, these days, “a lot of stations are trying to cut costs.”
As broadcasters face debt loads, advertising is cut and competition from streaming services and popular podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience, radio stations have spent the past few years laying off dozens of employees, including on-air talent. Once-popular morning shows are the latest victims, including, in late June, New York's WKTU-FM Carolina with Greg T and KZZU-FM Spokane, Wash.'s longtime broadcast Dave, Ken and Molly.
“With longevity comes bigger salaries, and if the return on investment is no longer there, these major moves need to be made,” he says. Lance Vendaits owner and publisher Radio Insight. “Most of these corporate communications teams see people as a line item on a spreadsheet.”
Sean Rosswhich brings it out Ross on the Radio newsletter, he says Advertising sign“With so many heritage morning shows, radio stations are in a trick where the show is both not as big as it used to be, less affordable after years of pay raises, but still the station's biggest asset.”
Many of the recently fired morning show stars did not respond to questions or declined to comment, as did the stations that cut them. Carolina Bermudez, the fired iHeartMedia co-host Carolina with Greg Tsays she has been “advised by my attorney not to comment at this time” and Kendall Hopkins of Dave, Ken and Molly he says he would talk “when I'm free.” But after the fall of Canada's Pattison Media Mornings with Bo and Jess, May posted a message on Instagram: “Radio is in a terrible state with the current CEOs and shareholders on call across the country and I HATE to see my colleagues tear it down. … Talents have unfortunately become just a number on a piece of paper.”
Tanner Jay, whose Show Jake and Tanner at WKSZ-FM Appleton, Wis., canceled in November, adds that radio stations are “struggling” and instead of spending more money on training and cultivating on-air talent, “They're saying, 'We might as well put all that money toward to give away some Taylor Swift tickets and have one or two people who have never done mornings.”
His partner, Jake Kelly, with whom he continues to host a daily podcast, adds: “I don't know if the higher-ups know exactly how to fix the problem. Maybe they're just shooting until they figure it out.”
Morning shows on music radio stations were once cultural and economic darlings—Howard Stern rose to prominence on New York's WXRK-FM in the 1980s, and Steve Harvey's show on WGCI-FM Chicago helped differentiate him beyond stand-up comedy and gain wider celebrity status in the 90s. Stations are still differentiated regionally with flagships such as Winston and Mel at Denver's Kool 105 and Mojo in the morning on Detroit's Channel 95.5. Many of these shows, including those of Gary Bryan of Audacy and Ryan Seacrest of iHeart, are syndicated and have their own podcasts.
Kelly argues that the current morning show hosts have been slow to update their content. Many shows, he says, rely on clichéd content like “War of the Roses,” in which hosts help couples face each other on air, often through pranks. “The fakeness of the laugh, the fakeness of the stories — Gen Zs can see through that if it's not authentic,” he says. “My daughter is 14 and I don't know if she's ever turned on the radio.”
Before the show's director pulled them aside after a Wednesday show and fired them, Kelly and Jay were moving away from conventional morning shows to more personal stories, including discussing alcoholism and family issues on air. Their new approach did not change the fortunes of the station. Their overall station ratings declined in the Green Bay, Wis., market from spring 2022 to fall 2023, according to Radio Online.
Hoy, who currently works as a medical outreach coordinator for a dermatology clinic, praises her replacement crew, Crash & Mars, as “incredibly talented.” He adds that a morning show in Calgary based in Edmonton might appeal to the station's finances, but not to the community. “I worry about what happens when local news and events happen,” he says. “It just breaks that relationship with the listeners.”
A version of this story appeared in the July 20, 2024 issue of Advertising sign.
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