Listeners of Baton Rouge’s Morning News show on WJBO 1150 AM may have noticed a shake-up Monday morning when they tuned in for AM drive time.
Former hosts Kevin Meeks and Karen Henderson were let go after their positions were terminated. New Orleans-based morning show host Gerry V has taken over the Morning News show in their old time slot.
Bob Murphy, senior vice president of programming for iHeartRadio in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, says Gerry V will bring in a more interactive listener and call-in focused show, as opposed to an interview and question-and-answer format.
Murphy says the change was a business decision and was not based on the performance of Meeks and Henderson. He says multiple factors were taken into account before making the move, but the main reason was the format change.
Gerry V’s show will be more regionally focused, allowing the news, traffic and weather teams at each station to expand their focus and delve into the local news topics of the day, Murphy says.
Gerry V, whose full name is Gerry Vaillancourt, hosts Morning News with Gerry V from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m. at WRNO 99.5 FM in New Orleans. In addition to hitting the airwaves in Baton Rouge, Vaillancourt is also taking over the same time slot at WBUV 104.9 FM in Biloxi, Mississippi. Vaillancourt formerly hosted the morning show for WVUE Fox 8 in New Orleans.
All three stations are owned by iHeartMedia, Inc, which is the holding company for iHeartCommunications, formerly known as Clear Channel.
Since the switch on Monday, Murphy says they have had mostly positive feedback from listeners.
“When people have a bond with hosts, any change is going to cause some feedback,” he says.
Meeks had been with the station since 1996 and worked with previous morning show host Matt Kennedy. Henderson began with WJBO in 2012, when she and Meeks took over morning show duties.
—Ryan Broussard
