IHeartRadio may hark on being “guaranteed human”, which really makes no sense, especially on the stations that have no commercials or radio personalities. But one thing IHeart better not hark on is being “guaranteed local”. Because as we learned this week, being “local” is not what IHeart is all about.

This week around the country, many local radio personalities were relieved from their positions. Most of them had been in their jobs, at their stations, for at least a decade. Some even more than a decade.

Sadly in my area of central Massachusetts WSRS and WHYN parted ways with morning personality Chris Zito. Now I have followed Zito’s radio career for about twenty-five years, through various stations in Massachusetts. He had been with WSRS for close to 15 years. And he’s local. When he talks about Big Y, you know what he’s talking about and you know he’s been there. When he talks about Jim’s Christmas Trees or the Worcester County Food Bank, you know he’s familiar with both of those places. Especially since WSRS always did an annual Worcester County food drive every holiday season.

So now who do they have replacing Zito in the Morning? Jodi, Sam and Murphy, who are a syndicated trio out of Louisiana and heard on 80-something other radio stations around the country. Yeah, I’m not listening. Oddly enough WSRS still has Zito in the Morning listed on their web site.

Because Jodi, Sam and Murphy aren’t going to be doing the annual Worcester County food drive in December. Because they’re not in Worcester county. They won’t be talking about Big Y or Jim’s Christmas Trees. Or anything else local to anywhere in Massachusetts. Because they’re in East Assfuck, Louisiana.

Let me tell you why having a local radio personality on your local radio station is important. In 2011 our area suffered a tornado, causing a great deal of damage, especially in the next town over from me. My husband and I had just pulled into the driveway and were listening to WSRS (pre-IHeart bullshit). Tom Holt was the afternoon local radio personality, and he was urgently warning listeners about the possibility of a tornado, stating “get in your basements NOW!”. Thank goodness his voice was on the air to warn us. It was consoling to know someone on the air was looking out for us.

Fast forward to just last week. We had a tornado warning again. Our phones blared the warning. We proceeded to the basement. While there I stupidly turned on WSRS only to hear Jeff Stevens broadcasting. I thought maybe he’d give us some information about the storm or tornado. Then it occurred to me that Jeff Stevens is not local. In fact, I discovered Jeff Stevens is based in Ohio. Well, that’s not going to help me much if I’m having a tornado in Massachusetts, is it? Plus his show is more than likely taped. As I’m sure most of them are. Even Zito’s.

But at least Zito was local and a well-liked familiar voice. It’s just sad to see what radio has become.