Updated at 5pm ET on January 13
On Wednesday, December 29, Max Media‘s WVHT-FM “HOT 100” in Norfolk was cheerfully promoting on Twitter its syndicated nighttime program, on until midnight. A day later, the host took to Twitter to note he was “just sitting in my radio studio taking phone calls.”
Today, the host is no longer available to take calls, and he’s no longer heard on HOT 100 or any affiliates. Westwood One, the national radio arm of Cumulus Media, has killed The Zach Sang Show.
On January 13, some eight days later, Westwood One officially unveiled the du0 replacing Sang.
Until late December, all seemed on track for Sang, known for his affection for K-Pop. He’d recently interviewed Canadian recording artist Scott Helman for his show.
Today, visitors to the homepage of the show’s website are presented the message, “This site can’t be reached.”
It’s a somewhat sudden turn of events for an air personality who turns 29 in May and is a BFF of Ariana Grande, thanks to Sang’s time at ViacomCBS’s Nickelodeon. A self-described “radio prodigy,” Sang was inspired by none other than Scott Shannon and his former long-time co-host Todd Pettengill, while the two were co-hosts at WPLJ in New York.
This led to the creation of Zach Sang & The Student Body on the ambitious yet short-lived online audio hub GOOM Radio. In 2012, Sang, WYD Media and Westwood One teamed in launching the Top 40 offering Zach Sang and The Gang, before evolving to its most recent incarnation.
What does this mean for affiliates such as HOT 100? That’s up to local management. For Cumulus-owned stations airing the program, including KOQL-FM “Q106.1” in Columbia, Mo., a succession plan has been finalized. Temporarily in the 7pm-midnight slot, local time, is Johnny O. That’s according to Westwood One, which notified affiliates of the coming change, RadioInsight.com reported.
On Monday, Jan. 17, “two highly successful major market talents” will come together for a new live offering from WWO’s Atlanta studios. That would be Eliott and Nina.
As RBR+TVBR correctly predicted, “Nina” is former WBBM-FM “B96” in Chicago morning co-host Nina Hajian — not heard on B96 since August 2021.
The “Eliott” was revealed on January 13 to be Eliott King. He took the afternoon slot at Urban One/Indianapolis’ WNOW-FM “Radio NOW 100.9” in February 2021 and, before that, had been the the 7pm-midnight host at WIOQ “Q102” in Philadelphia, the iHeartMedia Top 40 station. It was a return to WNOW for King, who joined Q102 in August 2019 but was part of the early 2021 wave of layoffs initiated by iHeartMedia.
