Last season, Cannon’s show was the lead in to Pirates broadcasts, and that lead in was, at the time of the switch from KDKA to Clear Channel back in 2007, one of the reasons given for the switch.  With Ellis gone, it would appear that a sports talk lead in to Bucco broadcasts will not exist, which could mean smaller audiences for the Pirate broadcasts themselves.  In addition, if Clear Channel is eliminating all other sports programming from WPGB, it’s possible they would seek to cut down the length of the pre and/or post game show in order to add more political talk radio.  I’m not really sure how that works contractually, so it’s quite possible the contract has requisite lengths for pre and post game shows and I’m blowing smoke about nothing, but if that does happen, I will be extremely disappointed.  In particular, the Rocco DeMaro’s post-game show is the best thing going in Pirates media.  It’s smart, informed and entertaining.  It balances sabermetric stats with old school observation, adding in his own brand of humor, great interviews (Kevin Goldstein, John Perotto, Neal Huntington just to name a few) and a good mix of caller’s opinions to make for genuinely entertaining radio.  It’s appointment radio for any Pirates fan, and the fact that this is even an issue really calls into question the logic behind the switch to Clear Channel on the first place.