Kopp Out

And here’s the big story you WON'T hear anyone talking about on the Big One, as they say on WLW-AM: Craig Kopp, the lone local liberal voice on the Clear Channel stations here, is off the air for the first time in 30 years. When WKRC-AM morning partner Jerry Thomas retires at the end of the year, Jerry's kid Brian Thomas and John Phillips will take over the morning show.
http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061219/LIFE/612190308/1025
Why dump Kopp? Nobody will say. His left-right banter with Thomas was very lively and entertaining. With Brian Thomas and John Phillips, I'm afraid we’ll hear two fiscal conservatives agreeing all the time.
More burning questions: Why dump the liberal voice – and the entire liberal talk format from WSAI-AM (1360) – after Democrats just won control of the Hamilton County commission, Ohio governor's office and Congress? Why dump 20 experienced radio people, and then a week later hire an attorney without full-time radio experience for the WKRC-AM morning show?
Kopp says he was told the decision was based on "revenue, not ratings." Guess that means Clear Channel figures that continuing the Thomas name on WKRC will bring in more bucks than keeping Kopp.
As for Craig, he’s not sure what he’s going to do. He just married in October, and bought a house in Goshen. Clear Channel offered him an off-air Web content job at much less pay. "I'm looking at that, and some other things," he says.
The radio biz sure has changed since Kopp came to WEBN-FM in 1976, at age 24, two years out of Bowling Green State University. "I got interested in radio when it was an emotional thing, when progressive rock radio was a calling. Now I’ve got to look at everything as a business deal," he says.
So with Kopp off the air, are Jay Gilbert and Wildman Walker the only remaining voices on the airwaves from WEBN's early years? As WEBN prepares to celebrate its 40th birthday next year, help me recall some of the voices from WEBN's past: Curt Gary, Michael Luczak, Bo Wood, Mark Scherer, Rick Bird...

News about the other Springer
Another Clear Channel personnel note: No, Scott Springer was not among the 19 fired on Nov. 29. The WLW-AM morning sports guy has been off the air since Thanksgiving due to a weird voice problem that may take another month or so to heal. I'll post more information after we hook to talk about it.

Chris & Rob Christmas
Chris Comer and Rob Ervin's annual "Chris & Rob Show" holiday special at 10 p.m. today on WAIF-FM (88.3) features the best of their interviews with Billy Bob Thornton, Tim Conway, Bootsy Collins and others. You can also hear it on
http://www.waifstream.com/
http://www.cincinnatiatlas.com/chrisandrob
http://www.chriscomerradio.com