Dave Packer talks about his firing from Fresh 102.7

Former "Fresh" morning co-host/
Dave Packer

On Friday morning, “Dave [Packer] and Danni” had just completed their morning shift at WWFS/Fresh 102.7 FM, when they found out that they had just done their final broadcast at the station.

Packer was told by CBS Radio executives, led by Program Director Brian Thomas, that they were “[going] in a different direction,” which meant bringing “another morning show in there.”

Rumors swirling around the Internet say that new team is Jim Douglas and Kim Berk, the current morning co-hosts at WKJY (KJOY 98.3 FM) based in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Messages to WKJY Program Director Bill Edwards were not returned.

Packer saw no handwriting on the wall for this one. “No, I really didn’t. It was pretty much a shock to us…. They didn’t tell us there were any problems leading up to it [the firing],” he recalled.

In the Arbitron PPM ratings for August, WWFS was 16th with an estimated 2.6 percent of the city's listenership.

But despite the station's overall numbers, the duo was surprised that they weren't given more time to build a following. “I don’t know if it has anything to do with [the] people meter---that kind of speeds everything up.” Packer admitted, “Regardless, five months is a pretty short time to evaluate a show.”

Following two years at the hot adult contemporary formatted “Fresh,” the veteran DJ said he’s hopeful of returning to the air in the short term. “I have a few meetings set up for this week.” In the interim, Packer also runs is own voice-overs company out of his house.

As for Danni, the one-time assistant program director, music director and DJ at sister station WXRK, she will be looking for the next gig too, but Packer cautioned, “It’s pretty early right now.”

He has remained in close contact with Danni in the few days since their departure. No longer forced to wake up at 3:30 a.m., Packer said, “We just texted the other day that we were going to turn off our alarm clocks on Monday.”
 

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