Just who are we listening to?

At Rock WCCC/Hartford, night talent Slater departs. As a result, overnighter Craig The Pornstar moves up to nights.

One more reason why what remains of truly "local" radio is starting to lose its identity. There I was this afternoon reading up on radio news from an industry source, as usual.

There was a story about WCCC Hartford losing its night personality and moving up its overnight host to replace him. At least that's what it should have been. Maybe I'm too old school for today, but I seem to like personalities that have names. Even if they aren't the real names, I can accept "Tom Jones" or "Bill Scott", etc.

Well, not anymore. The night personality who departed - "Slater". Sorry, but I can't identify with that. Male? Female? First name? Last name? Name of a movie? If it is "Bill Scott", my mind is comforted because I can listen to or read about a man and his program, even if I have no idea what he looks like or what his "real" name might be.

It didn't stop there. The all night personality moving up to nights to replace Slater? According to the story from an official industry source, the new night personality on WCCC will be......

"Craig the Pornstar"

Now, I would get it if I were listening to his show and he used that once or twice as a fun bit or a joke. However, unless the station is totally in existence to serve teenage boys, using this as a regular moniker doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

How is a longtime Hartford area resident supposed to identify with Craig the Pornstar? Could you tell your friends that you listen to him? Would you really go to an appearance? So you might like the music and the station, but now this sort of a name takes away the identity of the person.

It's either that or listen to "Bill Scott" on a national show or satellite playing the music, with no references to your local community. Some choices.

And they wonder why the AM and FM audiences are not what they used to be?