WDAS staffers concerned about its future after Unity Day cancelation

Some 105.3 WDAS-FM staffers are concerned for the future of the station and cite the recent cancellation of its annual Unity Day event as one sign of trouble.

"To get rid of Unity Day was stupid. How are you going to replace that revenue," one veteran 'DAS employee told us yesterday. "What's next, Powerhouse, the Q concerts?" wondered the staffer about whether Clear Channel Radio, which recently laid off thousands of staffers nationwide, would cancel Power 99 and Q102's annual signature events.

WDAS recently announced that "due to the difficult economic times," the station could not produce Unity Day this year. Last week Clear Channel announced that John Rohm, who manages its stations in Pittsburgh, would also be market manager of the Philadelphia cluster, which consists of WDAS, Power 99, Q102, Radio 104.5, Rumba 1480, and My106.1.

"WDAS is one of the top stations in the market and we're exactly where we want to be," spokeswoman Loraine Ballard Morrill said yesterday. "I can tell you with a high degree of certainty that there are no plans to make any changes to the station. The decision not to hold Unity Day this year was simply a reflection of these very challenging economic times," she continued.