Troi Tyler, Herb Kent and Ramonski Luv

Two longtime colleagues of the late, great Herb Kent are stepping in to take over the popular weekend programs formerly hosted by “The Cool Gent” at iHeartMedia Radio urban adult-contemporary WVAZ FM 102.7.

Starting this weekend, Troi Tyler, who had been Kent’s primary fill-in, will host “The Saturday Morning Wake-Up Club” from 8 a.m. to noon Saturdays. Ramonski Luv will host “Herb’s Place” from noon to 7 p.m. Sundays.

The Radio Hall of Famer and icon of the African-American community died October 22 at 88. Kent had spent the last 27 of his record-setting 72 years in radio at V103, where he became synonymous with “Old School and Dusties” music. Kent hosted his final Saturday morning show just hours before he died.

"Both Troi Tyler and Ramonski Luv are perfectly suited to carry on Herb’s legacy,” Derrick Brown, director of urban programming for iHeartMedia Chicago and program director of V103, wrote in a memo announcing the moves Thursday.

Tyler, former V103 midday personality who joined iHeartMedia predecessor Clear Channel Radio in 1994 and now works weekends at V103, also serves as station manager of WCSU, the student station of Chicago State University streamed on iHeartRadio’s Internet radio platform.

Ramon Wade, known on the air as Ramonski Luv, has been a fixture of urban radio in Chicago for more than 30 years. He recently returned to V103 as a fill-in host after brief stints with Internet radio and Crawford Broadcasting urban adult-contemporary WSRB FM 106.3.

In the latest Nielsen Audio survey, V103 ranks second on weekends with a 6.8 percent share and cumulative weekly audience of 724,200.

Here is the text of Brown’s memo to staff:

Good morning. I want to share some important and positive developments relative to our weekend programming following Herb Kent’s passing.

Moving forward, V103 will maintain Herb’s legacy of “Old School & Dusties” on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons. Effective, Saturday, November 5th, Troi Tyler will host the “Saturday Morning Wake-up Club” from 8am-noon.  Troi was Herb’s primary fill-in and I am confident in Troi continuing his tradition.
 
As we all aware, Herb was a bigger-than-life character, and who better to carry the baton from him on Sundays but Ramonski Luv? Effective, Sunday, November 6th from noon-7pm, Ski will host “Herb’s Place,” maintaining Herb’s Sunday features and adding a new one, “Gone, But Not Forgotten,” saluting classic artists who are no longer with us.  Of all our air-staff, Ski is probably second to Herb in the number of community and artists relationships he’s cultivated over the years. Plus, we know Ski’s a master showman in Herb’s tradition.
 
Musically, “Herb’s Place” will be similar to the program Herb nurtured, but will evolve slightly to be more ‘70s-80’s-based.  As further recognition of Herb Kent’s influence, one ‘60s or early-‘70s song per hour will be imaged as “. . . another Deep Dusty from the Herb Kent collection.”
 
Both Troi Tyler and Ramonski Luv are perfectly suited to carry on Herb’s legacy.  Feel free to congratulate and encourage them both as they grab Herb’s baton and continue to run with it.

Derrick D. Brown
Director of Urban Programming Chicago