iHM Puts More Staffers On The Beach For the Holidays

After less than half a year, the Rich Shertenlieb Show on 100.7 WZLX in Boston has been canceled.

Shertenlieb made the announcement on Monday afternoon as iHeartMedia makes cuts across the nation.

“After five months, The Rich Shertenlieb Show will no longer air on WZLX,” Shertenlieb posted. “To say that I’m disappointed is an understatement.”

The Boston Herald reports Shertenlieb, who was a successful host on 98.5 The Sports Hub for many years before splitting up with Fred Toucher, launched the sports show on the classic rock station in May — along with co-hosts Michael Hurley, Ted Johnson and others.

\The ratings for Shertenlieb’s new show at WZLX ended up being brutal.

“When we launched the show at the end of May, the plan was simple,” Shertenlieb wrote. “We would take the months of Summer to build chemistry with the new cast and by Fall and football season, we would be close to sounding what our vision of the show would be.

“However, just over two months into the show, management decided to alter the format,” he added. “They wanted music, I did not. However despite my disagreement about the decision, I agreed to move forward and music was added… Thank you to iHeart for the opportunity. Just because we didn’t have the same vision doesn’t mean I don’t thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me a chance to assemble the team I’ve always wanted to work with.”

Shertenlieb noted that one of his “proudest accomplishments” was seeing the show’s fanbase grow after the program started from scratch.  “But the thing that I am the most proud of is the team that I helped put together for the show,” Shertenlieb wrote. “This was THE team. If I could work with all of them the rest of my career, I would die happy. I love all of these guys. And through the last several months and my differences in vision with management, these guys had my back the entire way.”

The previous morning show at WZLX included hosts Pete McKenzie and Heather Ford. The morning show change came several months after morning show co-host Kevin Karlson died unexpectedly.

📻Who's Out?  Radio Insight has comprehensive growing list:  HERE

Meanwhile in the Cleveland market, Bill Squire, the bearded, raucous flannel-wearing comedian, will no longer be joining Alan Cox on his regular radio show.

Bill Squire

In an announcement this morning on Instagram, Squire said he was the victim of a company-wide layoff by iHeartRadio, the owner of 100.7 WMMS, where the 42-year-old comedian has worked since 2013, according to The Cleveland Scene.

“It’s just a bummer,” Squire said, forlorn, in a video posted to his Instagram Monday morning.

“The bosses called me, and said, ‘Hey, there’s nothing we can do about this. This isn’t performance-based. This isn’t anything you did wrong,’” he said. “’It’s just a move that the company is making. And you are collateral damage basically.’”

“It's one of those things where you want to leave on your own terms and they kind of didn't allow that to happen,” Squire said in a phone call with Scene. “You know, it's radio, so you kind of always have that in the back of your mind -- things aren't what they used to be.”

Since August, when iHeartRadio met with creditor groups to talk about restructuring its debt, there have been hints that the company might be inching away from the highly localized structure that seems to have kept the radio business energetic.