Regionally syndicated morning show “The War Room with Quinn & Rose” is off the air after being unable to reach a new deal with flagship “FM NewsTalk 104.7” WPGB Pittsburgh.
Jim Quinn and Rose Somma Tennent had hosted mornings on WPGB since the station launched its talk format in January 2004. Quinn previously had a long career as a music DJ in Pittsburgh before transitioning to Talk. The program was also syndicated to seven other stations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic and had aired on one of the former XM Radio channels programmed by Clear Channel.
In a response to a listener asking what happened to the program, WPGB PD Gregg Henson tweeted:
@jennatotaro WPGB tried to reach new terms w/ Quinn & Rose, but as that was unsuccessful, they will be moving on & we support and thank them
— Gregg Henson (@gregghenson) November 18, 2013
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette adds that David ‘Bloomdaddy’ Bloomquist of sister 1170 WWVA Wheeling, WV will be syndicated onto WPGB to replace Quinn & Rose.
Nathan Obral 
Buzzzz 
Scott Fybush 
Lydia Strickler 
BC
Based on Gregg Henson’s abysmal track record as a PD (especially his tenure at WOWO which rapidly descended into a train wreck that nearly destroyed the station) this really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
Might as well start the format flip countdown clock for WPGB now.
Do you really think Gregg Henson or any PD has any say over financial issues at the station? Clear Channel corporate sets a budget and that’s that.
Quinn and Clear Channel disagreed on how much they wanted and CC walked away in order to stay under budget. And really is there much of a market for him elsewhere in Pittsburgh? Unless he’s willing to settle for a weak AM, potentially on a time buy where’s he going to go outside of a drastic format change? He doesn’t fit on KDKA. The best he can hope for is Salem flipping 101.5 WORD to Conservative Talk.
If it weren’t for the fact that Gregg demoted WOWO afternoon drive mainstay Pat White to a weekend slot – and put himself in Pat’s place – then maybe I would agree. (That move backfired so horribly that WOWO’s parent company literally took him off the air and piped in the morning host from their South Bend talker, ultimately firing him weeks later. Pat was reinstated this past December.)
KDKA would not be a good fit for Quinn, I would agree. But why not KDKA-FM? Do note that CBS has had success with shock talkers on their sports outlets (WJZ-FM’s Ed Norris and WKRK’s Chuck Booms are two current examples, and it traces back to Imus’s heyday on WFAN).
Would Quinn go back to Steel City’s WRRK? He had a nice gig going there for quite a while before WPGB, and the disconnect between Quinn’s political talk in the morning and rock the rest of the day never seemed to matter much back then.
He’s too sharp-edged for Salem, I think, even if WORD went talk.
Quinn was a first rate radio commentator worthy of a national audience. Hoping he is back on the air soon, with Rose of course.
Mr. Fybush i don’t see that being any kind of possibility because the steel city pair are extremely music intensive formats. yes he does well, but the bob fm brand does well here also. which overall is a rarity for adult hits formatted stations. kdka fm, i’m surprised jim kren isn’t already a part of it. Interestingly enough, pittsburgh is the only market where the lay offs happened gradually. 2 years ago, jim kren, last year flick, and this year, interestingly enough around the same time, Quinn. but when he does end up back on the air he should use The Mighty Quinn as his talk bed. 🙂 Rumor has it there’s a non compete, my prediction is either CC offers them a job elsewhere or he they go to cumulus networks, without a pgh affiliate while promoting his website, in the same way that Ace and Tj did in Charlotte. I don’t see a format change for wpgb, but i honestly think a newstalk/sports hybrid should be in the cards. Though mark madden appeals more to wxdx demographic, he’d be a better fit for a rebranded 104.7 so that we can actually have some form of new alternative on the drive home. Politics ironically aside, i have to agree this was a decision made by corporate, not 1 pd.