Sudden departure of one-half of ‘The Ace & TJ Show’ leaves fans wondering: ‘What happened?’
Fans of the morning-radio personalities “Ace & TJ” were blindsided by the news on Friday that the long-running duo was splitting up — after more than a quarter-century on the airwaves together in Charlotte.
The departure of David “Ace” Cannon from the popular syndicated program was announced on its social-media channels at 7 a.m. like this: “The new TJ & Riggins Show begins Monday, September 23. Expect much of the same content and products with some new additions to be announced soon. Ace is no longer associated with the show.”
Cannon did not immediately respond to attempts by The Charlotte Observer to reach him.
The duo’s manager, Adam Goodman, told the Observer “we have an agreement with Ace that’s basically a nondisclosure agreement,” but added that “we want to try at least to relay that ... he is still our friend.”
Commenting was turned off for the identical statements posted to Instagram and Facebook. Hundreds of users shared the announcement on Facebook, however, and expressed varying degrees of shock and bewilderment. Just a sampling: “What happened? “This is a joke, right?” “I need to know the tea. That’s drastic.” Meanwhile, the news also was debated heavily in a popular Reddit thread on Friday.
Goodman did say the 56-year-old Cannon’s departure was “rather sudden” from the show’s standpoint as well.
But he tried to downplay any perceived controversy. “There was (none of the) drama I’m seeing through social-media speculators,” Goodman said. “I don’t want it to look that way at all. It has nothing to do with TJ or any of the rest of the staff.”
Cannon and Beams had been an on-air duo since 1993, when the Louisiana natives were paired up for the first time on a Top 40 station in Alexandria, near their hometowns of Pineville and Winnfield. They moved from nights to mornings, then on to Baton Rouge, then to stations in Huntsville and Birmingham in Alabama, before being hired to do Kiss 95.1’s morning show in Charlotte in 1998.
Locally, “Ace & TJ” had moved up and down the dial, including to “Channel 96.1” WHQC in 2012; back to WNKS in 2022; then to “K104.7” WKQC in May. The show was syndicated to several stations in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic, and spawned a podcast.
Said Goodman: “We’re doing the exact same show (starting) Monday. It’s just called something different — and Ace isn’t there.”
The man joining Ritchie “TJ” Beams on Monday in place of Cannon — Bryan “Riggins” Weber — will be no stranger to fans of the show; Weber joined the program as an intern in 2009 and for roughly the past eight years has been a significant regular fixture as a third wheel to Ace and TJ.
“We are heartbroken over the loss of a tremendous radio performer,” Goodman continued. “(Our) hope for Ace is that somewhere down all of this is a great other side for him. There’s nothing positive we wouldn’t hope for for him. This is a person we love. ...
“But we are in a place where every show wants to find a way to do things that keep it fresh, and we can do things that just are an evolution. We’re having a lot of discussions about, OK, here’s our new circumstances, and what can we do, and how can we do it better?
“So, that starts Monday.”
