Jim LaBarbara, The Country Professor?

So what does "The Music Professor" know about country music? We'll find out when Jim LaBarbara subs for Duke Hamilton 3-7 p.m. Monday and Tuesday on WUBE-FM (B105.1). In fact, you might hear him a little today, as he sits in with Duke this afternoon for a refresher course on running the board.

LaBarbara says he has a "pretty good collection" of country music at home -- Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, etc.

"I try to keep up with all music," says LaBarbara, 65, who was fired in March from WGRR-FM after 38 years on radio here. He was No. 4 afternoons in the winter ratings when his contract was not renewed in a Cumulus budget move.

Subbing for Duke Hamilton two days on the city's No. 2 station will allow LaBarbara to show his versatility for prospective employers. "I’m limited in my radio options because I’m not leaving Cincinnati," says LaBarbara, who also has done talk radio and sports talk.

Until November, when the station was traded to Cumulus (WRRM-FM, 98.5), LaBarbara had worked down the hall from B105. He was hired by WGRR-FM in 1993 by Marty Thompson, now B105 program director. Thompson calls the two-day a chance "to help out a friend. This is an opportunity for him to get back on the air and put a tape together."