‘Bob & Sheri’ show dropped by long-time Charlotte radio home. But it’s not the end.
Bob Lacey and Sheri Lynch have been on the air together at WLNK-FM in Charlotte since Feb. 2, 1992 — when George H.W. Bush was president, when “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” was the No. 1 song in America and when Lynch was just 22 years old.
Now, less than 10 months shy of this morning chat and comedy show’s 30th anniversary, “Bob & Sheri’s” long run on the station is about to come to an end.
According to Lynch, Urban One — which acquired “107.9 The Link” last November in a multi-station swap with the previous owner, Entercom — will stop airing the “Bob & Sheri” morning show on Friday, April 30.
“The new ownership is making some changes to the lineup, and formatically (i.e. to “The Link’s” format), as is their right,” Lynch told the Observer over the weekend. Lynch wouldn’t comment on what those changes entailed.
Program director Terry Foxx didn’t respond to an email Saturday or to a text message on Sunday. Marsha Landess, who oversees the Charlotte market for Urban One, did not respond to multiple emails.
To be clear, however, this does not mark the end of “Bob & Sheri.”
Contrary to popular opinion, Lacey, 71, and Lynch, 55, are not employees of “The Link.” They were — for a quarter of a century. But in 2017 they co-founded a company called Now! Media and took independent ownership of the show, wresting control of it from the station, then owned by Entercom.
At the time, the pair’s show aired on 41 affiliate stations across the country. Since then, that number has swelled to 70. WLNK is the only affiliate dropping the duo.
How to find ‘Bob & Sheri’
So, Lynch said: “It’s not our last ‘Bob & Sheri’ show. It’s our last show on The Link.”
“It’s a beloved affiliate, obviously, for all the reasons you can guess. It’s where we live. It’s home. It’s where Bob Lacey’s been on the air for over four decades, (between) radio and TV. We love the place,” she said. “But in network radio, which is what I’ve done my whole career, there’s a lot of churn. For all kinds of reasons.
“This is not the first affiliate that we’ve replaced or changed or lost or whatever. It won’t be the last,” Lynch said. “We feel this one differently. But at the end of the day, when we took the business independent, it was because we knew this day was coming.”
Fans of “Bob & Sheri” will continue to be able to hear them by streaming feeds from stations in other markets on the “Listen Live” portion of their website. Lynch and Lacey also upload a steady flow of podcasts, which Lynch said are downloaded close to a half a million times per month in total.
Meanwhile, Lynch said the duo is actively looking at other options in the Charlotte market.
Bob & Sheri’s origin story
Lacey and Lynch met at the station back when WLNK was WBT-FM “Sunny 107.9,” and Lacey — already a Charlotte talk-radio and TV veteran — was hosting the morning show.
As the story goes, Lynch — then a 26-year-old marketing department employee who’d been applying to graduate schools — was sent by WBTV to Lacey’s show to make an announcement about a programming change at the TV station.
She proved two things almost immediately.
One, that she was funny. Funny enough during her small guest spot that Lacey wanted her on his team. Two, that she was a savvy businesswoman. Savvy enough that she negotiated the same deal as Lacey, even though he had two decades’ worth of experience on her and she was only making minimum wage at the time.
They’ve been inseparable ever since, not just surviving but thriving amid several changes in management over the decades.
‘It’s just business’
Entercom began operating the station in 2017. Less than seven months later, the duo struck a deal for their independence from the station and Entercom.
Then, in the multi-station swap this past November, Urban One received Entercom’s Charlotte cluster of stations: News/Talk 1110 WBT Charlotte/99.3 WBT-FM Chester SC, Sports 610/102.5 WFNZ, and “The Link.”
Lynch would say only this about Urban One: “They’re a great company and I wish them well.
“I mean, I know it would be way more fun if I was saying, ‘They fired us, and they’re bastards and I hate them,’ but even I’m not that good an actress. You know what I mean? It just is what it is. ... (It’s) not personal. It’s just business.”
“But our last day on ‘The Link’ is just another business day for us,” Lynch said. “Because the next day we wake up and continue as we always have.”
More ‘major changes’ at ‘The Link’?
In addition to dropping “Bob & Sheri,” Urban One seems to have new and different plans for 107.9 The Link’s “The Matt & Ramona Show,” too.
Last Monday, Brent Harlan — better-known as Brent O’Brien (his radio name) and perhaps best-known as “Bandy,” or “Bandy Boo” — posted on Facebook that he had left his job as producer and “third wheel” to Matt Harris and Ramona Holloway.
Harlan initially provided no explanation, but on Friday penned a longer post in which he said: “I want everyone to know that this job loss was in no way my choice or that of my family who’s (sic) show I am now formerly a member of. Please continue to support them, love them, and tune in to their show as often as you possibly can.”
Reached by phone Saturday, Holloway confirmed that Harlan was let go by the station.
Harlan had originally volunteered to help produce the new-to-Charlotte “Matt & Ramona Show” when he was a part-timer at WLNK. He was hired by the show full-time in 2003, and had worked his way into the “third-wheel” role by 2005.
“He would have retired as the third wheel of our show if he could have,” Holloway said. “Because we’ve been rolling together for so long. I believe that this is God saying, ‘It’s time for you to get your own, son. You are too talented. You have too much to offer to be the third banana — to be on ‘The Matt & Ramona Show’ without having your name in the title.”
Holloway said she expects more “major changes” for the show are on the way.
“We knew that they (Urban One) were going in a ‘different direction,’” she said. “We knew that there was interest in our show. We didn’t know — and still aren’t a hundred percent sure — what that looks like.”
But Holloway added that one thing is for sure: She and Harris intend to continue the “Matt & Ramona” podcast with Harlan as a part of it.
This story was originally published April 11, 2021 at 4:14 PM.
