Tommy McFly (left) and his co-host Kelly Collis. In the middle is Darik Kristofer, who is so far the only surviving host at 94.7 Fresh. (Photo by Connect 2 Canada)

Tommy McFly (left) and his co-host Kelly Collis. In the middle is Darik Kristofer, who is so far the only surviving host at 94.7 Fresh. (Photo by Connect 2 Canada)

Times are a-changing at 94.7 Fresh, a D.C.-area contemporary pop radio station that has hosted the well-known Tommy Show in the morning for the last seven years.

On Tuesday, radio broadcast blog DCRTV reported that the station’s owner, company Entercom, is altering 94.7’s format by laying off a majority of its on-air talk show hosts. Tuesday was the last show for Tommy and his two co-hosts Kelly Collis and Jen Richer, as well as Dana McKay, who ran her Dana’s Dirt entertainment reports from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Britt Waters, who ran the nighttime slot from 7 p.m. to 12 a.m.

The only surviving host is Darik Kristofer from the 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. slot.

Station management pulled individual hosts in to tell them about the abrupt cancellation on Tuesday morning, Dana McKay told DCist. McKay says there had been “rumors and rumblings” about possible show cancellations for a while, but she was still surprised when management called them into individual meetings and broke the news.

“The way I feel about it, is that it was an amazing experience,” McKay says. “The Tommy Show people called us the ‘Fresh Family’ and I think that’s really what we were.” McKay says she’s received an outpouring of supportive messages from listeners after the news broke on Tuesday, and she looks forward to keeping up with people she’s gotten to know through her show, which has been running for the last four years.

“We never treated our audience like listeners,” McFly told Washingtonian. “They’re family. They’ve trusted us to be with them during their most intimate parts of their day. We take that really seriously, and the people who spent time with our show are not a commodity we’re trading against, they’re real people.”

On Wednesday morning Tommy did a segment on NBC Washington where he addressed the abrupt cancellation, stressing that he, Jen, and Kelly will continue to do events in the community and don’t plan on leaving the area.

“If you spent any time with us in the morning … Kelly, Jen, and I are so appreciative and we can’t wait to tell you what’s coming up,” he said.

On her website, the nighttime host Britt Waters also addressed the cancellation.

“My program director, Steve Davis took a chance on me, the girl that did years of mornings on a hip-hop station telling him she wanted to now spend her nights playing Justin Bieber’s music, talking to soccer moms, and even learn how to country line dance while hosting a concert out in Virginia,” she wrote.

Both McFly and Waters have jobs outside their hosting gigs—McFly is a contributor at NBC Washington and Waters is a game host for the WNBA and Arena Football League.

Entercom announced on Wednesday that 94.7 Fresh will now be 94.7 The Drive, playing rock, pop, and R&B from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, according to its Twitter, which it has already renamed. The last song on 94.7 Fresh was “Bittersweet Symphony.”

This post has been updated with details about the new name and programming for 94.7

Filed Under: 94.7 Fresh, The Tommy Show,