5,700 people have signed a petition to bring back the “Query & Schultz” radio show in Indianapolis. The duo had hosted afternoons on iHeartMedia’s WNDE-AM for 9 years before being fired with hundreds of others across the country last week.
Included on the petition are race car legends Mario Andretti and Alexander Rossi. Query is an IndyCar series turn announcer, according to IndyStar.com
iHeart reversed its decision to fire 6 people in Des Moines last week after local businesses threatened to cancel their advertising and a social media backlash.
Radio stations are obviously licensed by the FCC, to serve the public interest. The Pittman/iHeart approach is now to fire locally-connected personalities, and replace them with voice-tracking and automation. How is this in the public interest?
You have to wonder if there will now be license challenges around the country to some of the iHeart stations. The challenges could be based on the fact that the iHeart station(s) under challenge are NOT properly serving the interests of the community.
And the new potential station owner code promise 16 hours a day of live and local personalities, plus local news every hour, and key items like that, demonstrating a commitment to the local community.