Topic A: A Good Thing Comes to an End

On Sunday it was announced both on air and on line that Topic A was coming to an end and as I expected it did not take long for people to send me texts and emails wondering what the “real” motivation was behind the sudden ending of what had been a near 40-year tradition on this radio station.

Well I’m here to disappoint those of you with conspiracy theories in mind because there simply isn’t one.

Jeremy Grunin had been the host of what was a Sunday morning institution since the passing of Bob Levy on March 1, 2018 which many of you know was the 50^th anniversary of WOBM-FM.  Grunin had come aboard as a co-host a year earlier but as Bob battled health issues there were more and more Sundays in which it was Jeremy by himself.

During that time it became evident that he was the logical choice to take over Topic A as he’s engaged in so many aspects of the community as president of the Jay and Linda Grunin Foundation.  The list of organizations in which he is an active member or leader is staggering and his weekly meeting schedule is challenging to say the least.

What I and others hoped was that because of Jeremy’s interest in what’s happening at the Jersey Shore he would also be able to return the show to its roots as a “local” talk show focused on what’s happening in our backyards.  As the only one still here who was around when Bob was planning for the show back in 1979, the idea was for people to talk about traffic, pot holes, schools. Anything and everything Ocean County.

He gave people an outlet to get things off their chest and it resulted in many positive changes as government leaders knew that in those four hours on Sunday morning they could get a real feel for how their constituents felt.

Well times have changed and in this case not for the better.  Even before Bob’s passing the show had turned into a battle of right versus left with the same callers each week basically repeating the same message. It was not what Topic A was created for.

However I can tell you there were no plans to end the show on this end and it was Jeremy who notified management just a few weeks ago that he was stepping down to have more time to balance his busy life.

As one who was involved in meetings to decide the future it was unanimous when it came to ending Topic A.  It was and always will be Bob Levy’s legacy but as the saying goes, “all good things must come to an end.”

Thanks for calling and have a good day.