iHeart’s Erie cluster 100% jockless… at least locally
July 17, 2026I can’t help but think, 30 years ago when the government enacted The Telecommunications Act of 1996, somebody had the gall to tell them it was a stupid idea. Because it is.
While it allowed a company to own more stations than one should be allowed, one region actually benefitted for a while. In 2001, Rick Rambaldo (Next Media) had six radio stations and moved all sig to the Boston Store Place in Erie’s downtown. A couple had the outside windows (a la Jack Bogut at the KDKA Children’s Hospital Broadcasts from Kaufmann’s) and others were facing the main interior lobby of the now-closed department store. There were even bleachers set up for a “live audience”.
According to David Bruce of the Erie Times-News, the studios remain in place, but the jock personnel are all gone. The last two jocks for the stations now owned by iHeartMedia – Allan Carpenter and Jessica Curry – were let go by the conglomerate last month during their attempt to cut costs of up to $150 Million
iHeart’s stands firm that the decision was to restructure programming to better use technology. Oh… let’s not forget to put better focus on live events and podcasting. But is this not the company who has the slogan, “Guaranteed human”?
Meanwhile in Youngstown, Ohio, iHeart canned long-time morning host Gary Rivers from WMXY (98.9 Youngstown) in favor of the company’s syndicated “Murphy, Sam and Jodi.” Without doing intense, deep research I don’t have time for right now, it’s hard to know if there are any local jocks/airstaff using the studios including that of news/talk outlet WKBN (570 Youngstown).
