The cancellation of “Ebro in the Morning” at MediaCo Hip Hop “Hot 97” WQHT and the exits of Miss Jones and Ed Lover from Audacy’s “94.7 The Block” WXBK have many in the New York market discussing local radio for the first time in years.
After we first broke both stories on Friday, it was easy to jump to the conclusion that both were related as one of the shows could be heading to the other station. We’ve since have heard that at least now it was simply a mere coincidence.
Similarly, reports elsewhere began surfacing on Sunday evening that have claimed that WQHT was moving Funkmaster Flex to mornings. Flex himself shot down those reports claiming that he was only set to fill-in today.
“Ebro in the Morning” only had a handful of syndication affiliates remaining. Connoisseur Media’s “We 102.9” K275CH/KINK-HD2 Portland OR, Kemp Broadcasting’s “106.9 The Bomb” KVGQ Las Vegas, Major Keystone’s “Loud Radio” network in Allentown, Reading, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, and State College PA, and Equinox Broadcasting’s “Hot 92.9” W225BC/WCDW-HD3 Binghamton NY are all running best-of shows this week. They are still awaiting information as to the plans for the show beyond that as Superadio Networks intends to debut new programming with the shiw in the future.
At the center of the new programming appears to be a YouTube centered distribution as Ebro, Peter Rosenberg and Laura Stylez were all promoting a new channel as “The NEW and OFFICIAL Home for The Ebro Laura Rosenberg Show!!” Is former Alpha Media EVP/Content Phil Becker involved in some form?
Back at WQHT and WXBK, both stations look set to launch new morning shows in 2026. Multiple insiders noted to us that Hot 97 quietly launched a Saturday morning show “Tri-State of Mind” this fall featuring comedians Ken Starz and Ray Ray, along with Linda Aybar with more than one quick to note the similarities between this show and “Power 106” KPWR Los Angeles’ “Brown Bag Mornings” which moved from video podcast to radio mornings.
The low-rated WXBK has failed to make much of an impact since its flip from Country in October 2021. Partially hamstrung by its signal as it transmits from New Jersey, the station has hovered in the 1’s and low 2 shares and has slid 2.2 – 1.7 – 1.2 over the past three months, while WQHT and iHeartMedia’s “Power 105.1” WWPR-FM have been on the rise with WQHT climbing to a 4.3 share last month for its best performance since 2005, while WWPR-FM was at a 3.1 share.
The cuts of Jones and Lover were deemed budgetary according to our sources due to the low ratings. At this time there are no expectations of a format change.
