Originally posted Friday, July 19, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Ali Mac, formerly a host at Kicks 101.5, is going back to Florida. She has landed a job as morning show host at Easy 102.9 in Jacksonville, Fla.
“So ready to put the headphones back on!” she wrote me today.
Ali Mac was let go in January after co-hosting with Cadillac Jack for 18 months.
Then Kicks program director Brian Thomas, who has since lost his job there himself, told All Access at the time: "Ali was an integral part of our team at Kicks and our family at Cumulus... Ali's departure was about morning show chemistry, not about her talent."
She has since been replaced on Kicks with Corey Dylan, who has previously worked in Seattle and Tampa.
Coincidentally, Ali Mac lost her Kicks job in January almost at the same time as rival morning host Jason Pullman did at 94.9/The Bull. In both cases, management split their morning teams up. In the Bull's case, Kristen Gates stayed and they brought in Spencer Graves to replace Pullman.
And coincidentally again, Pullman earlier this week reportedly was set to join legendary Chicago country station US99 as part of a new morning team.
Ali Mac worked at Star 94.1 from 2011 to 2014. She started as the morning traffic reporter and for about a year did nights. She moved to Vero Beach, Fla. to be a morning show host from 2014 to 2016.
The Kicks morning show ratings have slipped since Ali Mac's departure, according to Nielsen. The show ranked 15th with a 2.6 share in January and was 19th with a 2.2 share in June. Among 25 to 54 year olds, they had a 1.9 share in January, good for 20th place. Last month? A 1.3, ranked 21st.
The Bull is beating Kicks in all major demos and its morning ratings have not changed significantly since Pullman left.
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