UPDATED: 12:10 p.m.
Longtime talk-radio host Scott Hennen will no longer be heard on the station he helped create.
Hennen and a group of investors founded The Flag-1100 AM, and Hennen's show hit the airwaves in August 2008.
Hennen's dismissal Wednesday came after "a parting of the ways when it came to the management of the station" and not because of any health prob-lems, conservative blogger Rob Port wrote this morning on his "Say Anything Blog." Port hosts a morning show on The Flag and has filled in for Hennen on several occasions.
Port dismissed speculation that Hennen faced health problems.
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"He made a trip to the Mayo Clinic recently and pre-cancerous cells were found in his colon," Port wrote on his Say Anything Blog. "I can tell you after talking with Scott last night that he is healthy and happy."
Port said Hennen intends to focus on his work with Freedom Force Communi-cations, of which Hennen and Port are partners. The company is engaged in social media and political projects.
In an e-mail obtained by The Forum, station management wrote to staff Wednesday, saying the board of directors decided to remove Hennen from his position as president and CEO of Great Plains Integrated Marketing Inc., effective Wednesday.
"While Scott will continue to be a shareholder of GPIM, effective immedi-ately, he will no longer be an employee and therefore no longer running day to day operations," the e-mail stated.
The e-mail also said the company is planning on reformatting local stations with "more emphasis on local news and information."
No other employees at the station will be affected.
"We ask that you refrain from any correspondence with Scott going forward regarding matters relating to station operations," the e-mail said.
Hennen was unavailable for comment Wednesday night. General sales manager Breck Von Bank and other station investors were also unavailable for comment then.
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Hennen's talk show, produced by his brother Chris Walters, had made strides in the most recent Arbitron ratings.
In August, radio ratings showed Hennen's show had jumped up to 2,600 listeners from a previous audience of 900 listeners. The Flag gained more than two shares in the market, going from 3.8 to 5.9 in 2010.
Hennen, a Montevideo, Minn., native, started in radio in 1992 at a Grand Forks Station.
In 2001, he came to Fargo, where he hosted a talk show and was general manger at WDAY-AM 970.
Hennen left WDAY in March 2008 to start The Flag.
In July 2009, Hennen purchased Lisbon, N.D.-based radio stations KQLX-FM and -AM, which built upon his ownership of local stations.
The FM station was rebranded as The Liberty-106.1 FM, while the AM station was rebranded as AgNews-890 AM.
Both stations are overseen by Great Plains Inte-grated Marketing, as are The Flag and The Eagle-106.9 FM.
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Forum reporter Kristen Daum contributed to this report. She can be reached at kdaum@forumcomm.com .
