Tuesday, December 14, 2010

DreXed out

In a surprise move - or maybe not considering his ratings were declining, Clear Channel's Contemporary Hit WKSC-FM (103.5 FM, better known as Kiss FM) dropped its morning personality Drex (Kevin Buchar) after a seven-year run at the station.

Also out are his co-hosts Mel T and Angi Taylor, though they may be asked to stay if there is a new local morning effort - and remember, the key word is if. No replacement has been named.

Drex came to Chicago from San Antonio in 2003 after WKSC failed to snag Eddie Volkman and Joe Bohannon from rival WBBM-FM (Eddie and JoBo were released from B96 in 2008). Drex finally beat his former rivals in key female demos, but then started losing ground to Eddie and Jobo's replacements Jamar "J Niice" McNeil and Julian Nieh. Even worse, Drex was a constant no-show for the last several months, apparently accelerating his ratings decline. Despite this, the numbers were still respectable by Contemporary Hit radio standards (a.k.a. those young female demos.)

Even more odd, Drex received a contract extension just last year.

While Drex's exit did take a lot of people by surprise, keep in mind sister station WGCI-FM fired popular morning host Howard McGee  in 2007, despite his morning show placing in the top five overall and doing even better in key demos, and dropped Melissa Forman's popular morning show from WLIT - twice.

Figuring out Clear Channel's moves is like fumbling around with a box of chocolates -  you never know what you're going to get.

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