"Love and Hudson" tenure at WMYI

[eacalhoun1]

I could've posted this in the ongoing Salem Media Sale to EMF thread, but thought it might stray a bit. I have scoured the internet -- hoping to find a newspaper article -- but my fuzzy brain cannot remember if Love and Hudson were fired or left WMYI on their own accord. They were so popular, I figured there would be an article whether it was termination or whatever. What I DID find -- unbeknownst to me -- was that Roxanne Walker (Roxanne Cordonier) sued WMYI, its management, and Clear Channel for wrongful termination citing on-air political disagreements between her and Love and Hudson in 2003. Didn't Love and Hudson depart in 2004? And maybe I just answered my question -- fallout from the lawsuit meant the end for the team?

 

[101tm]

They actually left at different times. Howard Hudson left in early 2004 and was replaced with Sue Myers (of Earth FM/WGTK News most recently) who was paired with Bill Love for a number of years until she was laid off around 2009-2010. Bill Love was let go from Clear Channel/iHeart in July 2011 when WMYI transitioned to a more Hot AC sound.

Howard Hudson reunited with Bill Love on Earth FM early in 2013, but the pair didn’t last that long together until Howard departed again that same year. I believe he did some work with WCCP between those two stints with Bill Love but I may be wrong. Unless I missed it, I don’t think Howard was mentioned much during Bill Love’s retirement week. I know it was about Bill’s retirement, but Howard was such a big part of Bill’s career I wonder if he didn’t want the attention and is thoroughly done with being OTA or what.

 

[freqdev]

i have been told by many that love, hudson, and walker were not close even at their peak. it would not surprise me if hudson wasn't invited to participate in the farewell especially after he left the station soon after it started while it was trying to gain traction.

 

[pmgrnvl]

There was some discussion of bits that he did with Hudson, and they played a few of them. Funny stuff for those of us who have lived here a while, but that was a different era of radio for sure.

 

[101tm]

Yeah, they definitely talked about the Love and Hudson show. Just no direct mentions of Hudson outside of what they did as far as bits on the air. Sort of an unavoidable topic because that was the hallmark of Bill’s career. Freqdev is probably on to something, HH left the same year Earth FM came on the air (I think KC Carson did as well) so it was a very short tenure. I was under the impression Hudson, Love, and Bob Nations were behind starting Earth FM, but it almost sounded like it was just Love and Nations. Maybe they didn’t want to mention HH.

Personally, while parts of Love and Hudson in 2013 were entertaining, it didn’t feel like what I remember of the original show. It felt like they were trying to recreate something that really couldn’t be recreated. L&H had their time on WMYI and it had sort of run its course there by 2004. Not saying they didn’t try or were at fault but I don’t think it caught back on like they thought it would - but then again I believe that was before they even had 103.3 so it was a very limited signal on that 105.7 translator.

 

[KyleAndMelissa22]

Would love to see the 105.7 signal perhaps revive the original station before it want Spanish.

Earth / Source 105.7 (and 910) before it moved over to Spin 103.3 then Earth FM in late 2012 / Into 2013

Would be interesting to see if something develops once again, tho i doubt it.

 

[Bill Love]

Let me set the record straight, from my perspective anyway. I mentioned Howard numerous times last week. I also played a few old bits. As far as closeness, we didn't really socialize much, but I think we generally had a pretty good working relationship. I also thanked him on the air for numerous things. Humour and comedy are very subjective. You and I may totally disagree on what is funny, but he and I had very similar senses of humor. I also thank him for his business sense. He fought for us to get more money. In 1989, we negotiated a new contract. We got, what most would consider, a huge raise of 50k a year. I was ecstatic! Howard said that it wasn't enough and negotiated another 20k bonus. For salaried people in 1989, that was amazing. Roxanne was icing on the cake. She was extremely talented. One important element of humor is surprise, and she surprised us constantly. It was a great show. I did not invite either back for my final week. We have all moved on. I don't know how they feel but I hold no grudges nor animosity. Working as closely as people do on a morning show can be grueling. Yes we tried to get the L&H show going again, in 2013, but we were already out of gas. We hired KC Carson and Tim Holland for the show. I would have continued, had Salem bot sold the station, but I have no major regrets. I wish that I had been a better person and not let my ego get out of control, but overall I'm satisfied. I hope I've answered all of the questions, at least from my point of view. We all have our own reality and the others probably see things differently. I've had an amazing career and feel tremendous gratitude. Oh, as far as firings, I think Howard was terminated at the end of 2003. I was fired July 14, 2011 for valid reasons. My ratings were not good enough to justify my salary.

 

[eacalhoun1]

Let me set the record straight, from my perspective anyway. I mentioned Howard numerous times last week. I also played a few old bits. As far as closeness, we didn't really socialize much, but I think we generally had a pretty good working relationship. I also thanked him on the air for numerous things. Humour and comedy are very subjective. You and I may totally disagree on what is funny, but he and I had very similar senses of humor. I also thank him for his business sense. He fought for us to get more money. In 1989, we negotiated a new contract. We got, what most would consider, a huge raise of 50k a year. I was ecstatic! Howard said that it wasn't enough and negotiated another 20k bonus. For salaried people in 1989, that was amazing. Roxanne was icing on the cake. She was extremely talented. One important element of humor is surprise, and she surprised us constantly. It was a great show. I did not invite either back for my final week. We have all moved on. I don't know how they feel but I hold no grudges nor animosity. Working as closely as people do on a morning show can be grueling. Yes we tried to get the L&H show going again, in 2013, but we were already out of gas. We hired KC Carson and Tim Holland for the show. I would have continued, had Salem bot sold the station, but I have no major regrets. I wish that I had been a better person and not let my ego get out of control, but overall I'm satisfied. I hope I've answered all of the questions, at least from my point of view. We all have our own reality and the others probably see things differently. I've had an amazing career and feel tremendous gratitude. Oh, as far as firings, I think Howard was terminated at the end of 2003. I was fired July 14, 2011 for valid reasons. My ratings were not good enough to justify my salary.

Welcome, Bill, to the forum. I worked in radio (in the Hickory-Morganton, NC, area) for about 30 years until about 15 years ago. I was only fulltime briefly in the late 80s -- I worked outside radio fulltime and retired 5 years ago. Your run on WMYI was amazing, and I had a fondness for the 102.5 frequency as I was a fan and was very involved with WMYI's predecessor WKIT in Hendersonville. I still have friends at WHKP, WKIT's former AM counterpart. Your last day at Earth was sad but also so very interesting as you walked listeners down radio's memory lane by mentioning your radio heroes like Monty DuPuy and so many others. During MY's L&H shows, I loved the characters you two developed like Miss Mauldin and "Charlie Gertz". I laughed and I cried listening to you last Friday. And it's worth noting that Salem has allowed staff to say goodbye -- it's doubtful Audacy, iHeart, etc, would allow the same. Did Charlie Munson (WESC mornings) get to do an on-air goodbye a few years back? I don't recall it. Best wishes and may God bless you.

 

[101tm]

Let me set the record straight, from my perspective anyway. I mentioned Howard numerous times last week. I also played a few old bits. As far as closeness, we didn't really socialize much, but I think we generally had a pretty good working relationship. I also thanked him on the air for numerous things. Humour and comedy are very subjective. You and I may totally disagree on what is funny, but he and I had very similar senses of humor. I also thank him for his business sense. He fought for us to get more money. In 1989, we negotiated a new contract. We got, what most would consider, a huge raise of 50k a year. I was ecstatic! Howard said that it wasn't enough and negotiated another 20k bonus. For salaried people in 1989, that was amazing. Roxanne was icing on the cake. She was extremely talented. One important element of humor is surprise, and she surprised us constantly. It was a great show. I did not invite either back for my final week. We have all moved on. I don't know how they feel but I hold no grudges nor animosity. Working as closely as people do on a morning show can be grueling. Yes we tried to get the L&H show going again, in 2013, but we were already out of gas. We hired KC Carson and Tim Holland for the show. I would have continued, had Salem bot sold the station, but I have no major regrets. I wish that I had been a better person and not let my ego get out of control, but overall I'm satisfied. I hope I've answered all of the questions, at least from my point of view. We all have our own reality and the others probably see things differently. I've had an amazing career and feel tremendous gratitude. Oh, as far as firings, I think Howard was terminated at the end of 2003. I was fired July 14, 2011 for valid reasons. My ratings were not good enough to justify my salary.

Thanks for the info and clarification, Bill! I always thought you did well without Howard also - you seemed to have a great chemistry with Sue as well as Debra. I thought you and Heidi were developing something great, it’s sad that we didn’t get to hear the two of you longer.

I remember July 2011. That was right when Clear Channel dropped WMYI’s long running AC format and updated to the Hot AC approach that never seemed to consistently catch on.

 

[101tm]

Welcome, Bill, to the forum. I worked in radio (in the Hickory-Morganton, NC, area) for about 30 years until about 15 years ago. I was only fulltime briefly in the late 80s -- I worked outside radio fulltime and retired 5 years ago. Your run on WMYI was amazing, and I had a fondness for the 102.5 frequency as I was a fan and was very involved with WMYI's predecessor WKIT in Hendersonville. I still have friends at WHKP, WKIT's former AM counterpart. Your last day at Earth was sad but also so very interesting as you walked listeners down radio's memory lane by mentioning your radio heroes like Monty DuPuy and so many others. During MY's L&H shows, I loved the characters you two developed like Miss Mauldin and "Charlie Gertz". I laughed and I cried listening to you last Friday. And it's worth noting that Salem has allowed staff to say goodbye -- it's doubtful Audacy, iHeart, etc, would allow the same. Did Charlie Munson (WESC mornings) get to do an on-air goodbye a few years back? I don't recall it. Best wishes and may God bless you.

Charlie was let go as part of mass iHeart cuts and didn’t get to address it on air. Salem and Craig DeBolt were kind enough to let him on the air to address his listeners on Earth FM.