Looks like the knives are out this holiday season for Hubbard broadcasting. Among the cuts in St. Louis is my former Loop PD Rick Balis. From the RAMP newsletter...
On the heels of yesterday's pre-holiday downsizing at Hubbard Radio Chicago comes word of similar 4th quarter cuts at the company's St. Louis cluster. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports 11 employees have been let go -- interestingly, the same number as were cut in Chicago. That list reportedly includes Rick Balis, the longtime PD of Classic Rock KSHE, who had been with the station since 1976. Another notable KSHE departure is Carl "The Intern" Middleman, Executive Producer of the KSHE morning show and a fixture at the station since 1990.
Happy holidays. Balis is a KSHE institution. Middleman is one of the premier producers in the country. It's just a matter of time before that position (producer) no longer exists in radio. By the way, I've been trying to track down the names of who was let go by Hubbard here in Chicago (they oddly won't say it publicly for some reason), and among those let go, is my old WPGU buddy Marc Vernon. Sad to hear it. I enjoyed his work on the Drive.
