CBS Radio moves from the 'burbs to the city

CBS RADIO Philadelphia is on the move. WPHT and WOGL will move from their City Line Avenue home to Old City, at the 4th and Market location housing WIP. KYW Newsradio, on the other hand, will join CBS3 and CW57 at 1555 Hamilton St.

"An expiring lease brought the question of moving to the surface. By uniting KYW Newsradio and CBS3/CW57, we will have the largest news-gathering organization under one roof in the Delaware Valley and be capable of great things synergistically," said Marc Rayfield, CBS Radio Philadelphia's senior vice president and marketing manager. "Plus, for the first time ever, our remaining [three] stations will be in a single location. We finally have marquee facilities as good as the people who inhabit them."

I hear employees are not happy about the move. Many work overnight shifts so they can't take public transportation, or live in the 'burbs and will now have to pay for parking, greatly affecting their lifestyle.

But that's not the only change at CBS Radio: WPHT will say goodbye to program director Ed Palladino, who is leaving after more than six years with the station. "I've been doing this for 31 years and it's time for something new," said Palladino, who will be heading to a nonradio job he wasn't ready to reveal.

When I asked what Palladino thought about recent lineup changes at WPHT, he referred me operations manager Andy Bloom.

"Ed's decision to leave radio was made a while ago," Rayfield said. "He made many important contributions to WPHT over the years, but we support his decision to go into another line of work. He will be sorely missed."

Didja check out Union goalie Chris Konopka in our Sexy Singles spread? Turns out, he may not be so single anymore.

My sources tell me Konopka just started dating media personality Maria Papadakis, who hosts videos on Philly.com and just began a new series over at CSN Philly.

I hear they'll make their public debut as a couple at Cole and Heidi Hamels' fourth-annual Diamonds and Denim charity event tomorrow, benefiting education here in Philly and in the African nation of Malawi.

WIP contributor and former Eagle Hugh Douglas was fired from ESPN yesterday, according to a report from SI.com. Douglas came under fire after rumors surfaced that he yelled racial slurs and threatened violence at "Numbers Never Lie" co-host Michael Smith at an event for the National Association of Black Journalists.

Yesterday, Douglas tweeted, "I am very disappointed to be leaving ESPN and will have more to say about this situation and my future at the appropriate time."

A call to Douglas was not returned.

Al Jazeera America has a jones for Philly-based journalists. Sarah Hoye, a multimedia journalist who formerly worked as a Philly-based CNN correspondent, was recently named the newest correspondent on Al Jazeera's "America Tonight," the network's flagship newsmagazine program.

Last year, Hoye was named Online Journalist of the Year by the Philadelphia Association of Black Journalists (PABJ) and presented with the Carol Jenkins Emerging Journalist Award by the Women's Media Center, among other honors.

Hoye joins Bryn Mawr-based Ali Velshi, who was one of the station's first hires. Velshi will host "Real Money with Ali Velshi," a 30-minute magazine-style program that will focus on how the economy affects Americans.

Al Jazeera America is a new 24-hour news network set to launch Aug. 20. It will be headquartered in New York with bureaus in 12 cities across the country.

Rival sports reporters Jeff Skversky, of 6ABC, and John Clark, of NBC10, dined together (with a couple other buds) at Avenue Kitchen in Villanova on Monday.

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