Chicago radio honcho: We'd take Paul Harvey in a heartbeat

So Entercom Radio has given up on Paul Harvey. Not only is he not welcome on their FM country station, he's not welcome on any of the eight signals, including 3 AM's, Entercom owns in the KC market.

If this were Chicago, the 88-year-old newscaster would already have a new home.

As part of my reporting on Thursday, I placed a call to Kipper McGee, the program director of WLS-AM in Chicago.  WLS is what WDAF once was -- one of the great AM radio stations in the country, having transitioned from rock to talk in the 1990s. When I lived in Chicago, it seemed WLS was forever lusting after Paul Harvey. Because Cap Cities (now Disney) owns WLS and ABC News Radio, the two would seem to make a perfect match ... except that WGN owned, and still owns, the rights.

I wondered if, with Harvey's recent health problems, his age and his supposed lack of appeal to the younger demos, WLS's ardor over the years had cooled.  It has not.

"Candidly, if Paul Harvey were available in Chicago, we would certainly air him," said McGee, who returned my call this morning after getting back into cell range from his vacation. "His legendary status and his appeal, really across all demographic groups, continues well into the 21st century.  We’d look into that if that was available to us. But unfortunately it is not."

Meanwhile, Kansas City just put the old guy on waivers. Sad and short-sighted. For now, the closest Harvey's voice comes to Kansas City is through St. Joseph's KFEQ-AM (680). And, of course, the Internet.

On the jump, a running list of stations that carry both Paul Harvey and Rush Limbaugh. That option was available to Entercom through its news-talker KMBZ-AM, but it passed.