TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Jack Harris, a long-time radio personality in the Tampa Bay area, has been laid off by iHeartMedia.

Harris hosted AM Tampa Bay on 970 WFLA for several years. He even had a show on News Channel 8 called “Harris and Company” for many years.

Harris told the Tampa Bay Times that after he got off the air on Wednesday morning, his bosses told him they were cutting back on expenses and letting him go.

The West Florida metro president of iHeartMedia released the following statement.

We appreciate all of Jack’s contributions throughout his five decades as a broadcaster, and in fact, in acknowledgment of his extensive tenure, we had extended having two morning shows in Tampa Bay – the Jack Harris morning show and The Ryan Gorman morning show — for the last year and a half.

That said, we finally had to make the practical programming decision to focus on one morning show moving forward, and have extended the Ryan Gorman show from 5am-9am as he continues to resonate strongly with our listeners in the Tampa Bay area.

Jack is a local broadcast legend and has been part of the fabric of the Tampa Bay community, and we wanted to celebrate all his contributions with a farewell show, which we did offer to him. While we are disappointed that Jack did not take us up on our original offer to host a formal sendoff on air, we wish him well and feel honored to have had him on air with us for so many years.

Chris Soechtig

Editor’s note: WFLA News Channel 8 is not affiliated with WFLA radio.