Longtime morning radio duo Walton And Johnson are no longer airing on 93.7 The Arrow. The Houston-based, nationally syndicated talk show's page on the Arrow site has also been scrubbed.
Houston media blogger Mike McGuff has been on the story for a few hours now, and there are reports that Clear Channel let a number of employees go this week too.
Rocks Off reached out to W&J about the reasons for their dismissal from Houston radio by email and they responded:
"We think we might be left wing political attack victims....ratings were excellent on the show...income very good...suddenly one month after the election management removes the show without explanation...we smell powerful Feds...show is still on everywhere else..we have to find somebody in Houston with the grit to put us back on"
Though the duo and their cast of voices is no longer on the air in Houston (see current affiliate map) they are still on morning radio all over the South.
The Arrow posted this on on their Facebook page this morning when a fan asked about W&J:
"Walton and Johnson are no longer on The Arrow, we wish them the best and you can find them at http://www.waltonandjohnson.com. We have the Classic Rock Music Fixx in the mornings. More classic rock, all the time."
To which a few fans understandably vowed to find a new morning radio station.
You can still catch them online here though.
Due to their conservative tone they were obviously not morning favorites of everyone in Houston, but they did have a dedicated following. For others, the "racist hillbilly show" needed to be cut long ago.
At one point they were on 103.7 KIOL here in Houston, before that station turned into a Jack FM back in 2007. Of course you all know what happened to 103.7 over the next five years.
Rocks Off sees it as a fresh beginning for the classic-rock station, a format that is getting harder and harder to define as the years pass by. We could get into having some more locally-sourced morning folks on The Arrow.
"Can we at least have some good songs in the mornings? I don't want to hear the same Rush, Journey, and Beatles crap songs over and over. Put some Van Halen, ZZ Top and Led Zep on the air. Going to miss WJ!!" said a discerning classic-rock fan with cultured ears on the Arrow Facebook page.
On Friday night the pair talked to the Houston Chronicle's David Barron and announced that they could be on the air here in the Bayou City within 30 days. They were a little more subdued with Barron than when they spoke with me. Fun alt-weekly and all.
They also made a brief statement on their own site, echoing what they told Rocks Off earlier on Friday afternoon.
