THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 27, 1994 TAG: 9412240055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUE SMALLWOOD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines
RADIO JOCKS Jimmy Ray Dunn and Jay Francis, the morning team at WGH-FM, Eagle 97, have been dismissed from the country station.
Morning-drive duties will be taken over by Dan McClain the first week of January, said operations manager Smokey Rivers. McClain has been at WDRM in Huntsville, Ala., the nation's top-rated country station, for two years. Steve Shaw is filling in until McClain arrives.
``Our listeners were telling us that they wanted more things out of a morning show than we currently could do with Jimmy and Jay,'' Rivers said. ``They want more traffic, more weather, more music. So we're going to be giving them that with Dan, somebody who they know and somebody that they're very comfortable with.''
McClain will be a familiar name to some listeners. Before his stint at WDRM, he was heard locally for nearly a decade at WCMS, WGH's chief country-music rival.
Dunn and Francis came to WGH three years ago from WNOR, FM-99, where Dunn teamed with Henry ``The Bull'' Del Toro and Francis was a part-time announcer.
Recent Arbitron figures place WGH, a Top 40 station that switched to a country format in 1991, at No. 3 with 9 percent of listeners over 12. Country veteran WCMS took the No. 2 position with 9.4 percent. Among morning-drive listeners between ages 25 and 54, a key demographic group, WGH placed No. 1 and WCMS No. 4.
Rivers is confident that the addition of the high-profile McClain can only enhance WGH's solid ratings.
``We've admired Dan's work for some time,'' he said. ``We had an opportunity to bring him back to Norfolk, and we decided to jump at the chance.'' by CNB