April 12, 2006

London Takes Firing From Free FM To Fox Forum

I'm not sure how much time they'll be able to fill with this, but John London is scheduled to appear on the Fox News Channel's "Hannity & Colmes" program on Thursday evening (April 13) at 6 p.m. (Pacific). The topic will be London's firing over remarks he made on the air about fellow Free FMer Penn Jillette.

Ah, the drama...

April 10, 2006

London Latest To Leave Free FM; MAX Goes Jockless

John LondonI've been out of communication for the past few days and I haven't been paying too close attention to things, so I missed what happened until the emails came in last night asking about why John London was no longer at fledgling talker FreeFM 106.9 (KIFR).

As of this morning, London's picture is off the FreeFM website (link). The station's weekday lineup now shows "Free FM Programming" from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Darian O'Toole's former slot) and from 3 to 7 p.m. (London's former slot). In addition, London's blog — hosted on Blogspot.com — has suddenly gone missing; it had not been updated since March 30.

According to one helpful reader of this column, London had opened his show last Thursday (April 6) by offering a $5000 reward to anyone who would kill fellow FreeFMer Penn Jillette, with an increase to $7000 if the death was a painful one. Friday's scheduled broadcast was replaced by a "Best Of" show.

Filling in on Monday (April 10) was KTLK/Los Angeles weekender and LA Weekly columnist Johnny Wendell, a/k/a "Johnny Angel." Wendell, who previously worked the mike as a weekender at KFI in L.A., made certain to throw in plenty of Bay Area place names during his first show to let listeners know he was well-versed geographically.

London's "Inferno" sidekicks, Dennis Cruz and Chris Townsend, are also out, according to initial reports. The trio had previously teamed up on KNBR's ill-fated "Not Just Sports" show, which ran from 2001 until 2004. Townsend recently began a weekend gig with another KNBR refugee, Larry Krueger, at Sacramento's KHTK/1140.

London's career in San Francisco radio has so far taken him from CHR KMEL/106.1 (1985-1991) to Sports KNBR/680 (2001-2004) to, most recently, Talk KIFR/106.9, where he had toiled since the station launched last October.

MAX TAKES OFF ITS JOCKS — Bonneville's 95.7 MAX FM (KZBR) let go of its air team, reportedly deciding that listeners prefer to hear their music without being bothered by human voices.

Web Fingers (mornings), Dawson (middays) and Teri King (afternoons) have been taken off the air starting today. King, who is also Max's music director, has not decided whether she will stay with the station, according to a report in All Access.

Bill Lueth, who oversees Bonneville's group of stations in the Bay Area, also told All Access that the station may have new KMAX-FM call letters in place as early as next week.

April 05, 2006

Hosley Named News Director At KGO

Newstalk KGO/810 has named Paul Hosley as its news director, replacing Greg Tantum, who departed for WTWP/Washington, D.C., in February.

The press release announcing Hosley's appointment makes it clear that KGO has high hopes for him.

"We welcome this highly respected, well accomplished, award-winning newsman to the highest rated news station in Northern California," KGO president and general manager Mickey Luckoff said in a prepared statement. "We look forward to achieving new heights with Paul's leadership."

Hosley, who will take over the job at KGO on April 19, was previously associate news director at KCBS/740 and news director at Sacramento's KFBK/1530. Married with three sons, Hosley is a past winner of Edward R. Murrow awards and the George Foster Peabody Award.