This year fireworks came before the July 4th holiday.
The big bang on Monday was long time WKLH-FM (96.5) morning show co-host Carole Caine being shown the door when her contract wasn’t renewed. She had been with the station for 29 years.
Industry observers speculated that firing a veteran might be a cost cutting move related to expenses incurred in a copyright infringement settlement by parent company Saga Communications with A. C. Nielsen ratings service.
Saga must also now pay to subscribe to the ratings service at all its stations.
According to industry newsletter Tom Taylor Now, Saga reported a $2.8 million increase in station operating expenses in the third quarter of last year related to the license agreement.
Although Nielsen prohibits reporting ratings for dayparts and demographics, the WKLH morning show with Caine and Dave Luczak was one of the top shows in the market, among listeners 25 to 54.
And it did considerably better with female listeners, many of whom feel betrayed by the station if Facebook and blog comments are any indication. Without Caine the show does sound like a locker room.
But WKLH has always been solidly run – it had the same format for 25 years or more before changing the brand from Classic Rock to Hometown Rock and moving its format into the 1980s – and smart money has it adding a woman to the morning show cast. But it better beware the blowback that occurred when WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) forced out anchor Melodie Wilson because she skewed old.
As for Caine, more than one person has suggested she could land at WTMJ-AM (620), which lost morning show co-host Jodie Becker in May. Wouldn’t it be ironic if Caine teamed up with long time morning show competitor Gene Mueller. Magic 8-Ball says, check back later.
This news, and the news this week of the departure of WMYX-FM morning host Kidd O’Shea for Washington, overshadowed a few other shifts in the tectonic plate of the Milwaukee media scene.
—Mike Jacobs wasn’t the only long time Milwaukee news anchor to leave the airwaves this year. On Saturday, Paul Piaskoski anchored his final newscast on WDJT-TV (Channel 58).
He was a Milwaukee native who joined the station in 1996 and began anchoring the news in 2000. In February the station moved him from the 10 p.m. nightly newscast, to weekends. He was replaced by Bill Walsh.
—Also gone from WDJT is reporter John Cuoco. His last day was June 30. The Boston native is reportedly returning there. He joined WDJT in 2011. Cuoco posted this message on Twitter:
—Former WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) reporter Lacey Crisp has joined KSMP-TV IN Minneapolis, as a freelance traffic reporter. She joined WTMJ in 2011.
The South Dakota native attended the University of Minnesota and most of her family and friends are in the Minneapolis area. Her husband is a Fond du Lac native.
—And sports reporter Elise Menaker joined WTMJ-TV on June 1. She was previously morning show co-anchor at WAND-TV in Decatur, Ill.
Sports reporter Jessie Garcia, who joined WTMJ in 1994 recently left the station.
According to her e and page: Menaker is a 2012 graduate of the Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism and was a sports intern at WLS-TV in Chicago.
WTMJ news director Janet Hundley also came from WLS last May. Menaker was a professional softball player with Sweden’s Skovde Saints and competed in the European Cup.
She has “a working professional proficiency in French” and is active on social media.
Follow Menaker .
Tags: Carole Caine, Elise Menaker, John Cuoco, Lacey Crisp, Paul Piaskoski, WKLH, WTMJ Posted by