Jessica McBride, Charlie Sykes, and Mark Belling: As the Radio Dial Turns

UPDATE, June 19, 2009: Ed Flynn and Jessica McBride
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Milwaukee's Newsradio 620 WTMJ-AM and FM station WKTI had a massive personnel shakeup last week.

Gene Mueller of WKTI left the morning post that he's held for 25 years to join John Jagler as the morning guy on WTMJ.

He replaced Ken Herrera. Ken was axed.

The changes didn't stop there. Jessica McBride, nighttime talker in WTMJ's 8:00 to 11:00 PM slot when no sports broadcasts were aired, also was canned.

Her replacement? Dennis Miller.


Many listeners weren't happy.

Read some of their reactions.

Lefty bloggers, on the other hand, celebrated McBride's departure.

They had stalked her, dissecting her every word. They went after her with an almost religious zealotry. They declared virtual Jihad.

Read these positively obsessive rantings.

Really creepy.

Some anti-McBride bloggers created a controversy, the Jasmine Owens matter.

Read more.

My opinion on that: There's no question that McBride was unfairly accused of mocking 4-year-old Owens' death.

On the personnel side of things, I think WTMJ made a mistake by taking McBride off the air.

As much as I like Dennis Miller in general (I haven't heard his radio show), it was good to have a LOCAL talker and a woman's voice at the station.

A syndicated show, particularly at that hour, is just a regurgitation of the stuff that talk radio listeners have heard all day. McBride offered a live, fresh, LOCAL perspective.

This story doesn't stop there.

Last week, Mark Belling spoke out about the firing of McBride. (He had also noted that some in the Hispanic community weren't happy with the firing of Ken Herrera.)

Belling had sharp words for WTMJ talker Charlie Sykes. He belittled Sykes for not defending Jessica McBride.

Today, Sykes fired back, and threw the ball in Belling's court.

Listen to Sykes' response.

He challenges Belling to "demand that the management of WISN radio hire Jessica McBride."

Sykes said that if Belling really feels so strongly about McBride being removed from the air, then he should use his weight to get her back on Milwaukee radio and put her on his show.

Will Belling respond to Sykes or will he avoid the challenge, claiming ignorance?

I've heard him say that he doesn't listen to WTMJ, which is quite surprising given that he's so quick to criticize the station and mock its personalities.

We'll have to see what happens next.

Will Belling be a man and walk the walk; or will he cower?

The bottom line:

Whenever Milwaukee radio loses a LOCAL voice, that's bad for the community -- metro Milwaukee and beyond.

I suspect that Jessica McBride will continue to influence local media and raise issues that matter to the community, whether she's on the radio or not.

That's good for Milwaukee.