Racine WI Radio: After 24-Years, Don Rosen OUT At WRJN

Don Rosen, long-time program director and morning radio show co-host for N/T WRJN 1400 AM in Racine WI, has been let go after nearly 24 years with the station.

Both Rosen and Dave Magnum, owner and president of Magnum Communications which owns WRJN, confirmed the move. According to The Journal-Times, Rosen said Magnum called at 6:30 p.m. Friday to say he was being let go after Wednesday. Magnum Communications bought the station last summer from Bliss Communications.

“I was fired without severance pay — without a dime of severance pay — and over the phone,” Rosen said. He first said he was “a little angry” but then tempered that slightly to “disappointed.”

Rosen said Magnum told him the company had heard from people who said they would not listen to WRJN because of the call-in show “Sound Off,” which Rosen hosted five days a week.

Don Rosen

“I’m glad I’m out of there,” Rosen said. “I just wanted out. It was not the same radio station” after the acquisition.

Magnum characterized the action this way: “It was a team that was running a wishbone offense and will be going to a pro-style offense. It’s nothing about Don’s performance as a professional – we’re changing the direction of the radio station; we’re calling it ‘your radio station friend.’

“It will be about companionship and the views of our listeners rather than the views of our host,” Magnum added. “Don was a very polarizing figure, by design.”

Magnum said he terminated Rosen by phone because he’d promised to let him know as soon as he’d made a decision.

About the lack of severance, Magnum said despite Rosen’s two-dozen years with the station, he’d only been with Magnum Communications since the purchase closed Nov. 1.

Morning show host Curt Vollman will replace Rosen as program director, Magnum said.

Read More Now