WHAT?????

Plug pulled on WHAT

The TrekMedic screams "Yeahhhhhhhhh!"

THE "VOICE of the African-American Community" was silenced yesterday when all employees of WHAT (1340-AM) were fired from the talk-radio station.

Inner City Broadcasting did the firing.

The company had sold the longtime staple of black issues in Philadelphia to Havertown's Marconi Broadcasting Co. for $5 million in November, as the People Paper's Jonathan Takiff reported at the time of the sale.

Marconi has not disclosed its programming plans for the station, which has been the home for decades to popular morning personality Mary Mason, who could not be reached for comment.

Mason was on air yesterday morning, as was midday host Al Butler, but at 1 p.m., as Daily News columnist Elmer Smith's show was to begin, a staff meeting was held and management informed the on-air hosts, office staff and salespeople that they were no longer needed, Smith said.

General manager Christopher Squire told employees that they could return to work today to receive their severance checks and that they were welcome to apply for jobs with Marconi for the new station, which may take over as early as today, Squire said.

Marconi CEO Tom Kelly last night said he couldn't comment on whether the format would be talk or music.

"We do plan to keep it very local," said Kelly, who also owns Kelly Music Research, which helps stations decide what to play by surveying listeners. "We're going to serve Philadelphia, not use satellite feeds from other markets.

"I wish I could tell you more but I really can't," Kelly said, declining to say whether Mason or any of the other WHAT hosts would serve a role with his new station. He did say Marconi was "putting in some new equipment in the studio in Manayunk and also improving the radio towers."

Butler had the last show on WHAT yesterday.

"I wish there would have been more of a goodbye for hosts, especially Miss Mason," he said, adding that he hopes a similar format pops up.

Tom Taylor, editor of Inside Radio, an industry newsletter, said that WHAT was ranked 29th out of 30 local stations in overall listenership in the most recent ratings book but that "the numbers don't always tell you everything."

"It wasn't big, but it was a loyal audience," Taylor said. "Mary had a longtime fan base. The station served a role in the African-American community as a distinctive voice."

Squire calls his staff "some of the most talented people working in radio today."

"We're a small radio station with incredible impact in the community," he said. "Our impact was not measurable by the numbers. WHAT got results."

Smith said there was not much reaction to the announcement. "After the sale, we all saw this coming. It's the nature of the business. It's been a great ride for me," said Smith, who has spent 14 months as afternoon host at the station.

The Trekmedic grabs for the ice-cold Jagermeister, laughs maniacally, and spews:

Its about f***ing time someone shut Mary Mason's reverse-racist, anti-Semitic mouth! If guys like Michael Smerconish, Glenn Beck or any other white talk-show host said about blacks and Jews what "Queen Mary" passed as "the truth," the FCC would have pulled WPHT's license years ago!

"Nuff said!