iHeartMedia News/Talk 700 WLW morning host Mike McConnell will retire on Friday, April 4.
McConnell told listeners this morning he will retire “because he is old”. He continued, “Thought about it for a long time. Three years ago when I signed my present contract, I pretty much made up my mind it was going to be the last one and told management over a year ago. I’ll miss a lot of aspects of it but look forward to it at the same time. No regrets as I’ve done this for a long time. I did the math and realized I started doing this for a living in April of 75, so that’s fifty years. So that’s enough. I’ve enjoyed it, great job most of my life and I’ll miss it.”
McConnell began his career in Dayton in college at WVUD before joining Rock 104.7 WTUE. He first arrived in Cincinnati in 1982 at “96 Rock” WSKS. After a brief stint at WSHE Miami, McConnell returned to Cincinnati where he would succeed Randy Michaels in middays at WLW and remained for 25 years. During that time, the show would be syndicated nationally by Premiere Networks from 2006-08, while he also hosted a separate syndicated weekend show for Premiere.
In June 2010, McConnell exited WLW to reunite with Michaels at Tribune News/Talk 720 WGN Chicago to host middays until being briefly moved to a streaming-only show in 2013. He would then return to WLW as a fill-in host before taking over mornings in March 2015 following Jim Scott’s retirement.
