With three layoffs at Connoisseur Media’s Long Island cluster on Thursday, Classic Hits “103.1 Max-FM” WBZO Bay Shore has moved to a jockless presentation.
Connoisseur cut ties with WBZO PD/afternoon host Tommy Conway, morning host Jim Douglas, and cluster News Director and traffic reporter Brett Levine on Thursday. Conway took over programming at WBZO in June 2020 after previously programming sister Hot AC 97.5 WALK-FM from 2014 to 2020. He also served as morning show producer and APD/MD at WALK-FM from 2006 to 2014.
Douglas joined WBZO when it relaunched as “Max-FM” in May 2015. He has spent his entire 43 year radio career in New York City and Long Island with stints in mornings at “Mix 105” WMXV and “Fresh 102.7” WWFS New York and a long run at “98.3 K-Joy” WKJY Hempstead. Douglas told Newsday, “I won’t bash them because this is part of the business. But the thing that got me is that I had just won a New York State Broadcasting award for best morning show in a large market. That was the surprising part. We had a good following, but the following wasn’t good enough for them.” He added that he was told that “it was a monetary decision — the market conditions are still tough and that ‘we had to make tough decisions and that’s to let the staff go and to automate Max.’”