Charleston SC Radio: iHM PD Brian Cleary Among Those Out

Brian Cleary

Longtime Charleston radio personality Brian Cleary, of country WEZL 103.5 FM and AC WXLY Y102.5 FM, was among those affected by hundreds of recent layoffs at iHeartMedia.

iHeartMedia/Charleston Local lost three people in this round of cuts, including Kelly Golden and Gary Goldman.

Cleary told The Charleston Post and Courier he never saw it coming.

“I’ve gotten up at 3 a.m. for the last 10 years,” he said. “My body still is not adjusting to being able to sleep in.”

Cleary has been involved in Charleston radio for 12 years, serving as the program director at WEZL and a DJ at Y102.5, where he hosted his morning show “Y Morning Wake Up with Brian Cleary.” He started in radio at 18 years old. He’s now 58.

Cleary said he hopes to continue in radio; it’s all he’s known professionally.

“Radio is still a great medium,” he said. “And there’s statistical evidence that a lot of people still listen to and use radio. To me, the ultimate success of radio is going to be going back to its local roots. You’ve had all these big companies come in and buy up local radio stations and try to run them from hundreds of miles away. Radio success is getting back to the local-ness of it.”

He will miss the local connections most, he said.

“That’s the difference between radio and Spotify or Pandora: the local talent, the people on there who can make the connection between you and the music,” Cleary said. “It’s that person talking to you who you get to know, who you feel is part of your family.”