Pat Barry has left oldies WDJO-AM (1480) after four years, while Cincinnati radio veteran Marty "With the Party" Thompson will return to the local airwaves next week on the station.
Why all the changes?
"I loved playing the music. I just got tired of four years of frustration with the owner," Barry told me after leaving the station Monday April 30. Barry, who started on WKRQ-FM in the 1970s, has been heard on WLW-AM and WKRC-AM when not doing weather forecasting for WLWT-TV or WXIX-TV.
The change comes after Mark Elliott, a former Q102 and Majic92 DJ, started consulting at WDJO-AM (1480) on March 1. He was "asked to take on more responsibility" when program director Tony Bender returned to iHeartMedia (WLW-AM, WKRC-AM, WEBN-FM, WCKY-AM, WSAI-AM, WKFS-FM). Elliott returned to local airwaves Monday April 23 hosting noon-3 p.m.
"The station has asked me to stay on in some role on a long-term basis," said Elliott, a Cincinnati native and Princeton High School graduate who lives in Columbus. He's in town two or three days a week, he says.
Thompson announced on Facebook he was returning to radio on Monday May 7 without mentioning his new employer. "Time to get back to work. Marty with the Party returns to your radio on 5/7. It's going to be fun," wrote Thompson, who has worked at WLW-AM, WGRR-FM, WUBE-FM, Middletown's old WPFB-FM "Country Rebel" (105.9) and Hamilton's old WBVE-FM "country beaver" (96.5).
Thompson "will join the staff sometime next week in a shift to be determined. I'm not sure how we will fit the pieces together yet," Elliott said.
Since the first of the year, the "good time, great oldies" AM station has added two FM signals to reach many more listeners – on 99.5 FM in Southwestern Ohio and 107.9 FM in Northern Kentucky.
Jeff Davis, a long-time radio personality who has done in-stadium scoreboard reporting for the Reds at Great American Ball Park, did Barry's 6 a.m.-noon shift today. The station's website lists Elliott, "Dr. Boogie" Jack Stahl (3-8 p.m.), station manager Gary Stevens (8 p.m.) and the "Unknown Good Guy." Stahl, Stevens, Dane Donovan's "Car Tech" show (10-11 a.m. Saturday) and Carmon Deleone's "Sunday Morning Music Hall" (8-10 a.m.) air on the weekends.
Barry's exit Monday was "his decision," Elliott said. Barry said he will announce his "future plans in broadcasting soon." He left with this parting shot at his bosses: "Maybe Marty Thompson will fix everything there. I highly doubt that the ownership will give Marty what he needs to be successful."
