NEW THIS WEEKEND: Francene Cucinello Dies At 43

BRIEF UPDATE 4:19 AM 1/18: We've heard that WHAS aired promos this weekend that indicate that the celebration of life service for Francene Cucinello will be aired live as it happens at 10 AM Monday on the 50,000 watt talker.

Also a quick correction: We're hearing that we might have been off on our estimation as to Cucinello's last appearance for WXIX-TV. The Enquirer and others are reporting her stint as a fill-in there ended in early 2009.

And one more note: Yes, we're quoted in Tom Taylor's "Taylor on Radio-Info" newsletter today. So, if you're reading from that link...welcome!

The rest of the original item is below...

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We learned Friday night of the passing of a popular talk show host on the southwest edge of our coverage zone (and we tweeted it), but this is a more indepth post with a few thoughts...

Francene Cucinello, the host of the popular "Francene Show" on 840 WHAS-AM/Louisville, died on Friday afternoon around 3:15 PM Eastern Time. She was 43 years old.

The big details are located here on Fox WXIX-TV 19/Newport's website and here on the 84WHAS site. And that FOX 19 article is about where Cincinnati comes into the picture.

We weren't fully aware Friday evening, but Cucinello actually did fill in reporting and anchoring for... WXIX, in addition to her work in Louisville, usually traveling the 100 miles to Cincinnati after she did her show (and we wonder if occasionally she didn't host her show from the Clear Channel tower in Kenwood) during the week. We've seen her on air here, but never put two and two together.

Yours truly, unfortunately, didn't get to hear Francene's popular 9-noon program on his last visit a few weeks ago... and we say unfortunately because from all accounts, Cucinello did a fine job for WHAS.

Down in Louisville, we don't know what will fill the 9 AM to 12 noon time slot come Monday morning. We'd assume someone will fill at least part of the slot from the Possibility City.

We say part... because we know that a one hour public celebration of Cucinello's life is planned for Monday morning at 10 AM. It will be at the Southeast Christian Church, located at 920 Blankenbaker Road in Louisville. We wonder if WHAS-AM will cover it live, since Cucinello was primarily employed by them. And we think WXIX could send down some folks, also... we think that'd be a classy move.

Your Tri-State Media Watcher extends his condolences to Francene's family, friends and coworkers at both WXIX and WHAS...