iHM RIFs: Milwaukee, Syracuse, Steve Sommers OUT At WLW

Steve Sommers

56-year-old Steve Sommers, host of WLW 700 AM's overnight America's Truckin' Network show, says he was "dismissed" by owners iHeartMedia Friday morning, ending the Sommers' family 36-year tradition on Cincinnati's most powerful radio station, according to John Kiesewetter, longtime Cincinnati media watcher.

"I have been DISMISSED from I-Heart Radio… I'm sorry my friends…. 2020 is a bitch!!!  I will not have a chance to say GOOD-BYE!!! Thanks for 25 years of friendship!!"

His father, Dale "Truckin' Bozo" Sommers, started the overnight broadcast aimed at truckers throughout the Midwest in 1984. Steve started working with his dad in 1996, and took over the show in 2004.

Sommers' made headlines in July when his WLW-AM bosses eliminated all talk about politics, the Confederate flag and the death of George Floyd from his right-leaning show after unspecified complaints.

"Suffice it to say we’re going to avoid such topics," host Sommers told listeners early the Monday morning of July 20. "There are some things we're not going to talk about anymore."

But the ban was short lived. Political talk resumed by late September. After the first presidential debate, I heard Sommers open his show on Sept. 30 talking about what a great job President Trump did that night. Later in the show, Sommers talked about Trump's concerns about absentee ballots.

Sommers' termination is part of  iHeartMedia's nationwide cutbacks this week. IHeartMedia cuts include Columbus' WTVN-AM morning host Joel Riley after 26 years and his producer, and Shaun Vincent, afternoon host/music director/assistant program director at Dayton's MIX107.7

Sommers has also worked for Cincinnati country music stations WUBE-FM and WBVE-FM, the old "country Beaver," and Christian WAKW-FM. He has also been heard on WFLI in Chattanooga, Tenn., and WQMT-FM in Decatur, Tenn.

➤In Syracuse NY...Justin Miller, also known as “Justin the Web Guy” on HOT 107.9 (WWHT-FM), indicated Friday that he had been let go.

iHeartMedia Syracuse now has more radio stations than DJs after cuts in January that included Kenny Dees, Dr. Rick Wright, Cora Thomas, and Pastor Daren C. Jaime at Power 620 (WHEN-AM); Pat McMahon at Y94FM (WYYY-FM); Cory “Kobe” Fargo at Hot 107.9; “Big Jim Donovan” (aka Jim Dunagan) at NewsRadio 570 WSYR (also on 106.9 FM) and Y94FM; and Daryl Thomas Ledyard at B104.7 (WBBS-FM) and Y94FM. Also, iHeartMedia Syracuse market manager Rick Yacobush retired at the end of December and longtime B104.7 host Rich Lauber exited in June after more than years on the Central New York airwaves.

➤In Milwaukee, Kerry Wolfe, Senior Vice President of Programming for iHeartMedia Milwaukee, is out. 

Wolfe is a minstay in the Milwaukee radio scene, most notably working for more than 30 years at Country WMIL 106.1 in addition to overseeing programming at iHeartMedia Milwaukee's other stations in the market – including News-Talk WISN, 95.7 BIG FM, 97.3 The Game, V100.7 and BIG 920 – under his most recent title.