Amidst dwindling stocks and a dismal last quarter Radio One is making more changes starting with Baltimore’s top-rated radio station WERQ. The corporation laid off two of its morning radio personalities yesterday, saying it will replace The Big Phat Morning Show on 92Q (WERZ) with syndicated programming. Morning disc jockey Marc Clarke, who had been with the station for nine years and producer Sonjay lost their jobs in the shake-up at the popular hip-hop, R&B station. By yesterday afternoon, their profiles had been removed from the station’s Web site (YIKES). A third disc jockey, Porkchop (WHAT?), will remain with the station in another position, said Howard Mazer, the station’s vice president and general manager.
Sonjay and Clarke could not be reached for comment yesterday. Mazer said that on Nov. 17, the station will replace the show with The Rickey Smiley and Deez Nuts Morning Show a nationally syndicated program that has been picking up steam over the last few months adding several markets to its roster. WERQ will play music with no disc jockeys until then, Mazer said. “Everybody’s looking at expenses,” Mazer said. “It’s the fundamentals of what is going on with the economy right now.”
WERQ was Baltimore’s top-rated radio station in figures released by the Arbitron ratings service in July, a ranking it often carries. It attracted nearly 10 percent of the area’s listening audience.
