NE-PA Radio: Steve Corbett OUT At N/T WILK

Steve Corbett

Steve Corbett, a longtime fixture in Northeastern Pennsylvania media as a newspaper columnist and talk radio host, is no longer employed with Newsradio WILK 980 AM / 103.1 FM.

According to The Citizen's Voice,  a general manager with the station’s parent company disclosed the move announced Wednesday night in an email to employees.

Details about why the station and Corbett, who was on-air during PM Drive, parted ways after a decade were not immediately clear.

“Effective immediately, Steve Corbett will not be returning to WILK. Steve will be shifting his focus to work on some other projects outside our company. We appreciate the work Steve has done on WILK and we wish him well in his future endeavors,” according to the eMail statement.

The staff email was sent out by Ryan Flynn, a general manager for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton division of Entercom Communications, which owns WILK and is one of the nation’s largest radio broadcasting companies.

Last week, the company said Corbett was on a scheduled vacation. He had not returned on air this week.

A phone call placed to Corbett’s cell phone went directly to voicemail Wednesday night.

Corbett worked at The Times Leader newspaper for 17 years, gaining a reputation as a dogged reporter and controversial columnist who won many journalism awards. In 2002, Corbett took a job at the Santa Maria Times in California and notably covered the Michael Jackson child molestation trial.

Corbett moved back to Northeastern Pennsylvania in 2006 and soon started a career as a talk radio host for WILK, coining the catchphrase, “You better listen.”

He often said the focus of his work had shifted to cover public corruption and many of his shows for years were consumed by talking about the scandals that led to the arrests of dozens of elected and appointed officials from across Northeastern Pennsylvania.