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JILL KAISER DION, Editor February 09, 2003
The WPLR website says it all, though in different words than Milford resident Brian Smith might have chosen to use. "After almost 18 years entertaining Connecticut's morning listeners," the radio website states, "Smith and Barber have hung up their headphones."
Smith's words might be a bit harsher. The local celebrity is more than upset about his sudden departure from the radio station than the website message conveys.
"I never quit," Smith wrote on a website called "Thedailycolumn. "I've never even thought about quitting. I was brought into a meeting where I thought I was going to be congratulated for my part in bringing top ratings to WPLR's Morning Show in our latest rating period.
"Instead, I was told the Morning Show had been canceled. I was completely blindsided, simple as that. Any other explanation or excuse, no matter who or where it comes from, is not true."
Smith said this week his voice mail's been filling up quickly. He said he's being cautious in his remarks about the radio station because technically he's still under contract with WPLR for a few months.
"I was blindsided by this move," said Smith. "I never saw it coming. This is something that was an economic move. I knew nothing about it. But I had a long career in radio, and I plan on having more of a career in radio. This is just one of those bumps."
Radio Station Program Director Ed Sabatino said WPLR managers knew for a while that Barber wanted out.
"Bruce had come to us around October and said he didn't' want to re-sign," Sabatino said. "We said `think about what you're saying.' He said he wanted to move on."
Sabatino said that after considering the options, WPLR decided to cancel the show and replace it with a different show, Chaz and AJ.
WPLR could have broadcast Smith solo, or they could have paired him with someone else, but they didn't think a spin-off of the original program would work, Sabatino said.
"People have used the Seinfeld analogy," he said. "When they tried to do spin-offs, they all failed. Spin-offs in radio tend not to work.
"A lot of people are going to miss them here. We miss them. Everyone was friends here," he said.
©Milford Mirror 2003