With the announcement last month that Westwood One would be ceasing distribution of the Rick & Sasha morning show as of Friday, April 16, most of Cumulus Media’s stations carrying the program have moved to new shows.
The biggest gainer from the end of Rick & Sasha is Reach Media’s Rickey Smiley Morning Show. The move of Smiley from Hip Hop to Adult R&B stations was part of the impetus for Cumulus to launch Rick & Sasha as a competitor for Tom Joyner’s former affiliates. Now Smiley has added distribution in seven southeastern markets:
- “Magic 107.3\” WMGL Ravenel/Charleston SC
- “Magic 94.3” WCMG Latta/Florence SC
- “Kiss 103.1” WLXC Columbia SC
- “Magic 103.9” WTYB Bluffton SC/Savannah GA
- “Magic 106.1” WRRX Gulf Breeze/Pensacola FL
- “96.1 Jamz” WHBX Tallahassee FL
- “Mix 106.1” WMXU Starkville/Columbus MS
Reach Media’s Russ Parr Morning Show was added at 104.1 WDLT-FM Saraland/Mobile AL.
Premiere Networks’ Steve Harvey Morning Show adds “V100” 100.1 WVIB Holton MI.
Compass Media Networks’ “DeDe In The Morning” hosted by DeDe McGuire adds a pair of Louisiana markets with launches on 102.9 KMEZ Belle Chasse/New Orleans and “Magic 102.9” KVMA-FM Shreveport.
107.3 KMJK North Kansas City MO will launch a new local morning show hosted by Sean Tyler and Tasha Mack on Monday, April 19. Tyler previously hosted middays at KMJK, but is best known for his long run co-hosting mornings at 103.3 KPRS-FM Kansas City. Mack most recently was heard on a local webcaster and has previously hosted at Community 90.1 KKFI Kansas City.
📣BIG Announcement:📣 Starting on Monday April 19th at 5am it's the NEW 107-3 Morning Wake Up with @SeanTylerKC1 and @tashafromthedot https://t.co/fgVc7DjuP4
— Power 105.1 KC (@power1051kc) April 8, 2021
Among the stations to not yet announce morning plans are Classic Hip Hop “OG 97.9” W250BC/WWWQ-HD3 Atlanta and soon-to-be sold “Radio 103.9” WNBM Bronxville/New York.