Jim O’Hara, a giant in local radio who has led one of the most successful ratings runs in Quad-Cities radio history for almost three decades on WLLR, is with the station no more, according to a report on radioinsight.com. The terms of O’Hara’s exit are unknown, as to whether it was a retirement, a forced retirement, or a layoff, but the news was located in a larger story about dozens of election week layoffs at I Heart stations across the country. WLLR is owned by I Heart Radio. The news was delivered in a one line blurb amidst the larger story about the layoffs, saying, “Jim... Read More

When’s the last time you listened to WOC? How old are you? If you’re somewhere under the age of 65, you probably couldn’t remember your answer to that first question. And if you’re somewhere over the age of 65, you probably couldn’t remember either, only for a different reason. I keed! I keed! In all seriousness though, the audience for local talk radio has been growing older and older over the decades. Most of the shows appeal to a decidedly conservative audience and the demographic for those kinds of shows skews older, and not just in radio. Median age of a Fox News prime time viewer?... Read More

It was worth a shot. But you can stop calling and e-mailing the stations. It ain’t happening. When it was announced first here on QuadCities.com that a number of on- and off-air personnel were let go from local I Heart Radio stations, including WOC’s Jim Fisher and Dave Levora, Debbie McFadden of Mix 96 and Q106, Todd Alan of KISS-FM and Ron Evans of Mix 96, fans of those shows were understandably upset. When it was learned that, a day later, two shows and six jobs had been restored to Des Moines sports talk station KXnO, due to, as they put it “overwhelming fan outcry,” there was some... Read More

It’s rare in life that you get a do-over, but this could be one of those opportunities for recently fired local radio personalities and the fans of their shows. According to the Des Moines Register, two shows and six jobs have been restored to local sports talk station KXnO, after those jobs and shows were cut earlier this week. Due to substantial fan outcry and outreach to the station deluging them with complaints, the jobs were restored. Obviously, this means that, given enough community outcry and support from fans, that at least one station was able to re-hire their on-air personalities axed... Read More