Intel can confirm that Vikki Locke, one half of Atlanta’s longest reigning radio morning show team of Steve McCoy and Vikki Locke, has decided to go solo.
She is expected to return to Atlanta’s airwaves via B98.5 FM Monday morning.
Last week, B98 FM bosses let McCoy go, opting not to renew the team’s pricey two-year deal that expires June 30.
The still-struggling economy and limp ad revenues across the nation’s radio industry were cited as the cause for the move.
Instead, B98 vice-president of programming Tony Kidd offered Locke a brand-new one year deal at a reduced salary.
Over the past week, according to insiders, the popular DJ had a series of conversations with close girlfriends and her husband Mike Hughes.
Explained one longtime Locke gal pal to Intel: “If this was a man, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But women in the workplace are just expected to act differently. We’re still conditioned to worry about the men first. Vikki has managed to do both.”
We hear that Locke wouldn’t accept the new offer until she met with McCoy, her on-air partner of 25 years, to get his blessing.
(We’re told that she even quoted “I have been and always shall be your friend,” Mr. Spock’s heart-wrenching death bed line to Captain Kirk from Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan,” one of trekkie McCoy’s favorite movies).
Locke wasn’t ready to discuss the new deal with the media Thursday. She didn’t answer when we rang her about the new assignment.
Sources tell us she’s relaxing in Florida celebrating her father’s 80th birthday and retirement party.
As for McCoy, we hear he’s not exactly ready to hang up his microphone yet and is in talks about what’s next for him professionally.
Listeners can keep up with him via his Facebook page.
And given Locke’s classy professionalism, a reputation she’s maintained in this city for more than two decades, we wouldn’t be a bit surprised if she began her solo stint Monday morning with an emotional tribute to her longtime professional spouse.
In other words, set your alarm early and as Locke herself might warn listeners: “Mascara alert!”
