The aftermath part 1
I watched an old episode of "WKRP in Cincinnati" recently. The characters included Arthur Carlson the GM, Andy Travis the PD, Les Nessman newsman, Herb Tarlek sales, Bailey Quarters traffic / billing, Jennifer Marlowe receptionist, and of course, the talent including Dr. Johnny Fever and Venus Flytrap. The show was lauded for its authenticity to local radio, save for the lack of headphones worn by the jocks.
That was then, this is now. The days of having a local staff running the local station are becoming a rarity. This became apparent over the last couple of days with the latest round of layoffs, separations, and retirements throughout the iHeart radio group and particularly with heritage news / talk KFI.
We reported last week that Robin Bertolucci, KFI's Program Director would be leaving her position after 22 years. Originally we stated she was part of the first round of layoffs, but later updated her departure as being her choice. Nonetheless, it's worth noting no replacement has been named and it's speculated her position will not be filled. More in a moment.
As KFI's News Director, Chris Little was widely admired for giving listeners quality news coverage with limited resources. After 24 years helming the nationally respected news department and more than three decades at AM 640, Little left the station earlier today. Born in Pasadena and raised in Hacienda Heights, he graduated from Indiana University, then worked in Indianapolis and Atlanta as a DJ before returning to Southern California to be a news anchor, floor director, camera operator, booth announcer, and director at KDOC-TV. Little started as a part-time reporter in 1991, moved to full-time in 1996, then was named News Director in 2000. He is well regarded as a mentor to young journalists, teaching them to "write short, sharp, and strong."
To state Steve Gregory is an award-winning reporter is an understatement. Gregory has been awarded the Edward T. Murrow Award seven times. The Associated Press has given him first place accolades for Best Newscast, Best Special Program, and Best Series. Gregory has also won international media awards for features on the Phoenix Fire Department, the U.S. Border Patrol, and Arab-American comedians. He is a first-place winner of more than 25 Golden Mike Awards for his coverage of breaking news, features, and investigative series.
Gregory also hosts "Unsolved with Steve Gregory," a podcast highlighting a few of the 10,000 unsolved crimes in California which he states "have gone cold, hit a brick wall or just needs that one piece of evidence or witness to surface." The program features challenging cases, the most wanted, and the investigators who work behind the scenes.
He leaves the station after 19 years, including reducing his time in 2016 to take care of his ailing mother but continuing to work on his podcast and eventually coming back to KFI News more regularly.
At her Instagram account, Kris Adler posted the following:
It’s with such a heavy heart that I share with you that many of us-your trusted AM 640 voices-had our last day at KFI today. Many of you have already heard the news on-air.
I first need to thank my team. @thechrislittle and @robinbertolucci took a chance on me right out of college, they believed in me, and opened a world that I never knew existed. My fellow reporters @corbin_carson, Michael Monks, and @blaketroli have guided me, and have been like brothers. Blake - thank you so much for your expertise and advice throughout this journey. Thanks for having my back as a new reporter literally being thrown into the fire.
Our editors, producers, board-ops, and show hosts have worked so hard, some have put in decades of work, to bring you the news every day. Chris Little and Robin Bertolucci prided themselves on the fact that we had high standards and that we were different.
To our devoted listeners: please know that we never could have been what we were without you. I am so honored to have been part of this team knowing the dedication to the station we had from our fans. Thank you to all who shared their stories with me and trusted me to be the voice they needed.
News is changing- but what never changes, is a reporter’s desire for truth.
Adler had been with KFI less than two years, but was quickly recognized for her fieldwork.
Corbin Carson received the Outstanding Graduate Student Award while earning his Masters Degree from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University, creating the nation's first and most comprehensive Voter Fraud Database for the 2012 election as a member of the school's News21 team. Before arriving at KFI, Carson had already earned two Edward R. Murrow Awards for Best Documentary about the Arizona prison system and Best Reporter honors at KTAR-Phoenix.
Carson created a two-hour documentary entitled "This Sand is My Sand: The Stolen Legacy of Bruce's Beach." The story detailed property in Manhattan Beach stolen from a Black family 100 years ago amid threats from the KKK. It led to the State of California returning the multi-million dollar property to descendants of the Bruce family.
Though her current full-time gig is with Spectrum News 1, Jo Kwon maintained her presence at KFI offering fill-in and weekend work. A graduate of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, she dreamed of a broadcast journalism caereer since she was five years of age. Her radio journey includes KVTA-Ventura, KOST, KNX, and KABC, picking up four Golden Mikes along the way.
While at KFI, Kwon quickly distinguished herself as a multimedia journalist, producing online video features for the station as well as her on-air radio work. She credits her time at AM 640 and Chris Little as one of her mentors to help sharpen her reporting and producing skills. She left her full-time work at KFI in 2017 to report for KCAL / KCBS-TV before her current reporting and anchor work at Spectrum News 1, but was still heard regularly on the news / talk station.
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RadioInsight.com is reporting the entire 22-person news department at KFI, including anchors, reporters, and editors were laid off on Monday. We haven't been able to confirm this, but will update the blog as we learn more. There are a couple of possibilities being circulated about KFI's future. One is to have KFI completely rely on the national iHeart 24/7 News Headlines / NBC News Radio service. Another is the creation of a regional hub to provide news to any iHeart station within California and perhaps beyond. A third possibility is to expand the company's Total Traffic and Weather service to include news coverage. Nonetheless, what's not being heard is rebuilding the KFI newsroom as a local entity.
Also we're hearing of other cuts within the LA iHeart cluster, we're working to find out and confirm what's happening.
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