Terri Traen/photo by Carlos Gonzalez

Are Tom Barnard and Terri Traen finally getting a professional divorce?

Traen, who has been a key member of the wildly popular KQRS morning show since 1989, hasn't been on the air for over a week. Operations manager Scott Jameson said Monday that's because she's in contract negotiations. He wouldn't comment further.

Barnard, who is signed to remain with the station through 2019, has grumbled both on and off the air about Traen ever since they teamed up together, verbally wincing at her non-sequiturs and corny jokes while still acknowledging that she's been part of a formula that's kept the program at or near the top of the ratings for decades.

"Does he really not like me?" she wondered aloud in a 2010 Star Tribune profile of Barnard. "I think sometimes he does, and sometimes he doesn't. I don't think I'd be here if Tom really hated me. Sometimes when I get on his nerves, I don't know it, and sometimes when I think I have, I haven't."

Can the powerhouse stay strong without her?