NY Radio: Mark West Mornings Show Ends On WALL-AM

Mark West

Radio personality Mark West, who had been fighting to keep his morning oldies show on the air on WALL 1340 AM, has lost his battle.

The Times Herald-Record reports, West signed off for good at 10 a.m. Friday.

West had been working under a cloud since January, when communications giant Townsquare Media, which leased West his morning drive-time slot, switched the other 20 hours of WALL’s broadcast day to a Spanish-language-music format.

West, a 37-year radio veteran, found himself in the odd position of doing an oldies and community-oriented talk show for four hours, five days a week, with the rest of the broadcast day filled with Spanish-language music. Previously, WALL had aired an oldies feed during the day, so the formats matched.

As word got out about West’s predicament, loyal listeners bombarded Townsquare with petitions and emails. West said the decision to end the show evolved out of an email exchange he had with Townsquare in March, when Townsquare wanted him to go month-to-month on their lease agreement, starting in May. As an independent contractor, West said, he couldn’t work with his sponsors on a month-to-month basis, so he ended the show.