The question on many talk radio listeners' minds this week is: Where's Doug?

WPTT-AM (1360) talk host Doug Hoerth, whose contract at WPTT ends Dec. 31, is no longer with the station.

"We elected, through no fault of Doug's, not to renew his contract for 2008," said Alan Serena, vice president of operations for Renda Broadcasting Corp., which owns WPTT.

The station has been airing best-of-Hoerth programming this week, and today will be the last rebroadcast show. On Monday, the station will begin airing syndicated Mike Gallagher from 3 to 6 p.m.

Hoerth's name was already gone from the programming schedule on the WPTT Web site this week, as well that of sister station WJAS-AM (1320), where he had been host of a weekly Sunday night oldies show. That show will cease as well.

Hoerth had not returned calls for comment. The veteran of the local talk-radio scene has worked in Pittsburgh since 1980. He worked at the former WWSW-AM, KQV-AM, KDKA-AM and the former WTAE-AM before joining WPTT in 1999.

The Metropolitan Opera Radio Saturday Matinee Broadcasts season opens tomorrow, with the network premiere of Gluck's "Iphigenie en Tauride," with Susan Graham as Iphigenie and Placido Domingo as Oreste.

The 22-week series also will feature archived performances in honor of the late Luciano Pavarotti and Beverly Sills: the 1975 production of Rossini's "L'Assedio di Corinto" (The Siege of Corinth), starring Sills, and the 1977 production of Puccini's "La Boheme" (1977), featuring Pavarotti.

The broadcasts air locally on WQED-FM (89.3), starting at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow.

Also on WQED-FM, two holiday music traditions air today: The Carnegie Mellon Holiday Concert, with Robert Page conducting the CMU Concert Choir, Repertory Chorus and Philharmonic, airs live at noon. The Heinz Chapel Choir Christmas Concert will air at 8 p.m.

-- Adrian McCoy, Post-Gazette staff writer