Radio station WNST Friday laid off five employees including the general manager, a show producer and two on-airs hosts.
Station founder Nestor Aparicio told the staff Friday morning.
Here’s what Aparicio wrote of the five and their dismissals:
Today, I announced the departure of several veteran folks – Drew Forrester, Glenn Clark, Ryan Chell and my office staff of general manager Paul Kopelke and Ashley Bishoff – in effort to create a basic change in the way we’re doing content and our radio format at WNST.net & AM 1570. They came to work every day and they gave everything they had to WNST. They’re good, hard-working, honest people and I wish them absolutely nothing but the best in their future.
Chell confirmed his separation Friday afternoon. He produced much of the local broadcast
day on WNST, while Forrester and Clark held on-air shifts.
Clark, who was on weekdays noon to 3 p.m., also confirmed the news, saying he found out Friday morning.
“The community of WNST listeners we had was simply amazing and I can’t wait to figure out how to re-connect with them,” he said in an email response to the Sun seeking comment. “I’m grateful for all of the talented people-namely Ryan Chell and Drew Forrester who were also fired-I had the chance to work with on a daily basis. I’ll be talking to everyone again soon.”
Forrester was on-air from 6 to 10 a.m. weekdays.
The only full-time, on-air employes reportedly still at the station are Aparacio and Luke Jones, who covers the Ravens for the station.
In his post, Aparicio wrote at length about changes in his personal life — some of them linked to his wife’s health.
In response to a Sun email seeking clarification of the moves, Aparicio wrote that he would announce his “plans for relaunch” at the station next week.
Credit to the Baltimore Sun for publishing this article
Jason Barrett is the President and Founder of Barrett Media since the company was created in September 2015. Prior to its arrival, JB served as a sports radio programmer, launching brands such as 95.7 The Game in San Francisco, and 101 ESPN in St. Louis. He also spent time programming SportsTalk 950 in Philadelphia, 590 The Fan KFNS in St. Louis, and ESPN 1340/1390 in Poughkeepsie, NY. Jason also worked on-air and behind the scenes in local radio at 101.5 WPDH, WTBQ 1110AM, and WPYX 106.5. He also spent two years on the national stage, producing radio shows for ESPN Radio in Bristol, CT. Among them included the Dan Patrick Show, and GameNight.
You can find JB on Twitter @SportsRadioPD. He’s also reachable by email at Jason@BarrettMedia.com.
