San Diego radio's game of musical chairs goes on: What started with the departure of 91x program director Michael Halloran (which we reported on) on Jan. 11 continued Tuesday with the sudden cancellation of the Cantore + Woods morning show on KBZT FM 949.
The program, which ran on weekdays from 6-9 a.m., was hosted by longtime local radio hosts Chris Cantore (a onetime SoundDiego contributor) and Steven Woods. Although the station hasn't made an official announcement, the pair has have both been removed from the "hosts" section of the FM 949 website and its daily schedule.
Obviously, most listeners figured something was amiss when they turned on FM 949 on Tuesday morning and the regularly scheduled show was nowhere to be found. The news was confirmed by Cantore + Woods' Twitter account, as well as both Woods' and Cantore's personal Twitter/Facebook pages.
@carriehudson fired — cantore+woods (@cantorewoods) Jan. 24, 2017
The pairing, which got its official start in 2013, when Cantore joined the FM 949 staff (Woods was already working at the station), had a solid local following leading up to Tuesday's cancellation.
The Cantore + Woods Twitter account responded to a fan's question about possible low ratings as cause for the departure.
Local
ratings were fine. solidly beating competition and other key shows. https://t.co/QKUaCGKVr6 — cantore+woods (@cantorewoods) Jan. 24, 2017
The show's cancellation is the most recent change for FM 949. Last year, the station unveiled a redesigned logo and abandoned their long-running "It's about the music" slogan. Entercom, which owns KZBT, counts more than 125 stations under its belt -- including 19 sports-only stations. As we mentioned last week, with KBZT signed up as the new San Diego Padres broadcasting partner, will the station change formats completely? The answer still remains to be seen but the outlook isn't good.
As usual, Cantore and Woods seem to be taking it in stride as best they can -- with a little humor. Woods tweeted earlier Tuesday morning.
Up at 4:00. Old habits. Hey @chriscantore ...come to my house and forget your keycard. #memories — Steven Woods (@thestevenwoods) Jan. 24, 2017
FM 949 has not replied to our requests for comment. Stay tuned to SoundDiego for further updates.
