Fast-talking Armstrong slows down for interview

We don’t know how we missed this, but don’t you miss it: In August, Terry Hazlett of the Observer-Reporter caught up with legendary air talent Jackson Armstrong recently to talk about Pittsburgh’s late, lamented WKTQ (1320) and radio in general.

Until recently, Armstrong, 61, of High Point, N.C., could be heard in the ‘Burgh in the early evenings on Buffalo’s 50kW blowtorch WWKB (1520); that station has since dropped its oldies format. Armstrong is out of a job, too, at the North Carolina FM station where he served as morning man for more than seven years. “I saw an article the other day that said there are over 35,000 on-the-air talents out of work now,” he says. “You can add my name to the list.”

Even though the business is suffering, Armstrong (who maintains his own MySpace page and blog) is optimistic about the art of radio, and thinks that with a mix of jocks and music from Kelly Clarkson, Justin Timberlake, Timbaland, Rianna, Fergie, and other mainstream pop artists, personality radio could succeed today.

“Good radio is good radio,” he says. “Absolutely you can do it again! The reason it isn’t being done is it is expensive and that, unfortunately, is the end of the argument.”