BANGOR – The voices on the “Voice of Maine” morning radio show sound a little different from last month.

That’s because Clear Channel Communications of Austin, Texas, the company that owns WVOM-FM (103.9), decided to switch hosts and broadcast its morning call-in show from Augusta rather than Bangor.

Hosts Charles Horne and Leo Jonason were fired at the end of December, and on Jan. 2 former disc jockeys Mike Violette and Eric Leimbach took over the phones for the 6 to 9 a.m. time slot. The move consolidated programming at Clear Channel’s three news-talk stations in Maine, which include WCME-FM (96.7) and WHQO-FM (107.9). Weekday programming at the three stations is now identical, according to Keryn Smith, general manager of CCC’s nine Maine stations.

Opinions on the change posted at www.thevoiceofmaine.com, WVOM’s Web site, are mixed. About half the postings decry the loss of Horne and Jonason while the other half praise the switch to Violette and Leimbach. The Bangor Daily News has received one letter opposing the switch. It was published Monday.

“Every time I visit Maine I look forward to listening to Leo and Charles in the morning,” wrote “suee” on Jan. 7. “They gave radio a taste of northern Maine which was so refreshing. On my trip this week I learned that Leo and Charlie were canceled and replaced with the same ‘stereotypical’ radio voices of the larger areas. I think it’s a loss for the people of northern Maine.”

“Pastort” countered on Jan. 12 with, “Leo and Charlie were great, and I wish them all the best! The new guys are doing well so far. The concept of a statewide talk show is a good opportunity for the people of northern Maine to talk to the people in the other Maine. So best of luck with the new program!”

Smith said recently that the change established a news-talk network in Maine that can be heard from Millinocket to Portland. WCME and WHQO previously ran a syndicated sports call-in show during the 6 to 9 a.m. time slot, while WVOM aired the show with Horne and Jonason.

“We could have gone either way,” Smith said of the change. “We chose the show with Mike and Eric to be the anchor. The focus of the show won’t be any different, although Mike and Eric may be a bit more moderate than Charlie and Leo. We decided to take the best of the best and expand the opportunity for all.”

Violette and Leimbach, both 41, have worked together for 16 years at radio stations in central Maine. Violette was born in Farmington and raised in Waterville, while Leimbach is a native of Connecticut who made Maine his home after graduating from Bates College.

The news-talk format is new for the pair, who until this month were hosts of the morning drive time show on WKCG-FM (101.3), CCC’s adult contemporary station in Augusta. They also are the announcers for two AM all-sports stations that broadcast Augusta-area high school games.

“Neither Eric nor I have ever heard them,” said Violette of Horne and Jonason. “It’s better that we not worry about what they did. Based on what we’ve heard, Leo and Charlie were very edged toward the right. Clearly, Eric and I are more to the center.”

Violette said he and his co-host planned to have frequent guests in the Augusta studio or on the phone. He pointed to recent interviews with state Sen. Peter Mills, R-Cornville, and Jym St. Pierre, head of RESTORE: The North Woods, as examples of how the new hosts may be more open to airing a variety of opinions than the previous hosts.

“Eric and I have a background in adult contemporary radio,” said Violette, “and being a goof sometimes is part of the package. We want to inform listeners, but make them chuckle as well. I can’t ever see us getting to the point of having a knock-down, drag-out on the air [with a guest]. Eric is the very calm voice of reason in my world.”

Former co-host Horne said Wednesday that while he simply had lost a job, the northern and eastern Maine point of view had lost a forum in the switch to an Augusta-based studio. He said a talk show based in Bangor was “not only a good public service but was good business” as well.

“I watched it grow and develop and be sold for millions of dollars,” the Brewer resident said of the station’s growth under former owner Jerry Evans. “That wouldn’t have happened if we weren’t doing something right in the morning. I think we had a good thing going. … You keep your base and build from there, rather than knock the whole thing down and start all over again.”

WVOM gained national attention during the 1998 ice storm when Evans dumped his syndicated programming and broadcast local news and information throughout northern Maine for more than a week. Evans, a native Californian, bought Bangor’s only news-talk radio station in 1997.

A Michigan-based firm, Communications Capital Managers, purchased it and WBYA-FM (101.7) from Evans, who lives in Bangor, in February 2000. At the same time, CCM bought WKSQ-FM (94.5), WBFB-FM (104.7) and WLKE-FM (99.1). Clear Channel Communications purchased the six stations five months later.

Wednesday afternoon, Evans offered some advice for the new morning hosts – “Read more.”

“They seem uninformed on a lot of things,” he said from his Bangor home. “I think they can grow into the job, but they are a little numb on some issues.”

Evans said that when he owned the station, listeners often told him that they wished the residents of southern Maine could hear the show and know what was happening north of Waterville. “Well, now they can,” he said.

WVOM will continue to run the locally produced show “Hot & Cold” as well as “Maine Outdoors,” said Smith.