The longtime 89X morning duo Dave and Chuck the Freak are off the air, apparently for good from the Windsor-based station.
They announced on their Facebook page this morning that their show is no more via this message:
"Unfortunately we can't go into detail, but as of today the Dave and Chuck "the Freak" show is no longer a part of the 89X line up. We greatly enjoyed our time at 89X for over a decade, made some great friends, and are so thankful we got to be a part of your lives every morning. We have the best listeners in the world, and you guys entertained us as much as we entertained you."
They no longer appear on the 89X web page, and the station's online schedule has nothing listed for a weekday morning show.
The station's official Twitter page, however, has tweets saying the duo quit: "Yes it's true that Dave and Chuck have quit. They made the decision to leave 89X, but we roll on! Thanks for listening."
In the radio business, that sometimes indicates a show's hosts have found a better deal at another station. Another possibility is unfavorable contract negotiations drove them off the air. That said, why Dave Hunter and Charles Urquhart are gone remains unclear.
UPDATE: A Windsor Star blog item this morning suggests the station's owner were unwilling to match an offer from another, unnamed, station to move the show.
The show, which first began airing in April 2001, is also co-hosted by Lisa Way.
Rerun shows had been playing for at least the past week. It normally aired in morning drive-time from 5:30 to 10 a.m., and their show was often touted on highway billboards in metro Detroit.
89X is the largely alt-rock station's on-air branding for CIMX-FM 88.7 FM. It's 100,000-watt signal covers Windsor, metro Detroit, Toledo and can be picked up in northeast Ohio.
The station is part of Bell Media Radio, which owns 35 Canadian station. It's a unit of Montreal-based telecom giant Bell Canada, a significant piece of BCE Inc., which had more than $19 billion (Canadian dollars; NYSE: BCE) in revenue last year.
The station directed calls about the show to Tania D'Angela, the programming assistant for Bell Media's local stations (which include 93.9 FM The River, CKLW
800 AM and CKWW 580 AM). A message was left for her.
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