KTOK shakeup?

[SoonerDave]

Has been forever since I listened to KTOK regularly, but heard via the Twitterverse that apparently their long-time news directory Jerry Bohnen has been let go, along with the Eggman.

Anyone have any more details?

[OKCTalker]

All eggman did was read national light news feeds and polls. He wasted an opportunity to dig into meaningful local issues, but squandered it. Hope that his replacement will be better.

[Midtowner]

All eggman did was read national light news feeds and polls. He wasted an opportunity to dig into meaningful local issues, but squandered it. Hope that his replacement will be better.

Eggman was terrible. I used to regularly listen to Mark Shannon, but Ron Black was probably the best local radio has had in a long time. Wish KTOK would do whatever it would take to lure him away from his present employer (I believe CHK).

[SoonerQueen]

Losing Jerry Bohnen is a real loss. Local talk as we used to know it is gone.

[FFLady]

Losing Jerry Bohnen is a real loss. Local talk as we used to know it is gone.

So is the America we used to know.......

[oneforone]

I am wondering what's going on... All the clear channel radio websites are down.

[Larry OKC]

Read more: http://newsok.com/david-garrett-laid...#ixzz1qbwIwJjV

David Garrett was laid off Thursday as KGHM-AM 1340 sports director as part of nationwide layoffs at Clear Channel Communications. ... In Oklahoma City, at least three other veteran on-air broadcasters were dropped, including KTOK-AM news director Jerry Bohnen, a 32-year news veteran; KTOK afternoon personality Eggman (Greg Moore) and KXXY-FM 96.1 morning personality Dan Stroud. ...Bill Hurley, Clear Channel market manager, could not be reached for comment.

Hmmm, maybe he got fired too???

[kevinpate]

of these folk, Dan is the one I will miss the most.

[oneforone]

Clear Channel already remote programs most of their stations including news from larger cities. It won't be long and technical people will be the only people in OKC.

[RadicalModerate]

In a statement, Angel Aristone, VP/Marketing & Communications, Clear Channel Media + Entertainment, tells RBR-TVBR: “We are constantly evaluating our organization and structure to make sure we are as well positioned as possible to continue to lead in the evolving marketplace. We’ve been looking closely at our business to ensure that we are properly staffed and operating as efficiently as possible with the right balance of services and personnel to meet the needs of our listeners/consumers. Like every successful business, our strategy continues to evolve as we move forward as a company and that creates some new jobs, and unfortunately eliminates others. In the process, some employees were affected. These are never easy decisions to make; we thank them for their service and wish them all the best for the future.”

I look forward to the day when a holographic projection of Angel Aristone--rather than the more expensive version of Angel Aristone his or herself--will be delivering statements like that.

"....lead in the evolving marketplace."
What can that possibly mean but "have the most money"?
It certainly has little to do with the interests or desires of the local listeners to their near monopoly.
Thank goodness for the Internet.

[Larry OKC]

There you go again....

[MikeOKC]

Clear Channel is directly responsible for ruining the very business they're now sinking with. You reap what you sow. The unfortunate part is a lot of CC workers are having to pay the price. They gave pink slips to even 30+ year employees - all over the country. It's sad.

[JohnH_in_OKC]

News Directory Jerry Bohnen has been about the only thing that KTOK had that gave the station any presence. Most of KTOK's talk show hosts spout garbage and hate (Except Coast to Coast AM & most of your weekend programming). The bean counter or supervisor who fired Bohnen should be fired and Bohnen should be reinstated with back pay. The best newscasters on radio & TV really care about our city and state. The best ones are usually not transplants from somewhere else or at least have long time roots here. Bohnen probably gave half his life here in OKC reporting to us & for us. I've never met Bohnen, but he's a darn fine anchor and reporter.

Clear Channel: No wonder you're in financial trouble!

[UncleCyrus]

Well, I think a lot of people saw something like this coming. It doesn't make it any easier to take when it actually happens though. I wish Jerry, Dan, and Eggman the best.

[oneforone]

I wouldn't blame this entirely on management of Clear Channel. Terrestrial Radio is slowly dying because of technology. Everybody owns an iPod, mp3 player or satellite radio. That means fewer listeners and fewer advertisers which equals lower revenue. Then radio has done a lot to drive ppeople away. Such as replaying the same songs over and over, too many commercial breaks and crappy morning shows that spend more time talking about nothing than anything else.

[RealJimbo]

I wouldn't blame this entirely on management of Clear Channel. Terrestrial Radio is slowly dying because of technology. Everybody owns an iPod, mp3 player or satellite radio. That means fewer listeners and fewer advertisers which equals lower revenue. Then radio has done a lot to drive ppeople away. Such as replaying the same songs over and over, too many commercial breaks and crappy morning shows that spend more time talking about nothing than anything else.

Shows what you know. Everybody owns an iPod, mp3 player or satellite radio? Really? This would really surprise a lot of people I serve every day. Your post reads as though you have NEVER even listened to the station in question, KTOK. Go gripe about conservatives on the political threads. Bye now.

[RealJimbo]

I'm an unabashed radio lover from way back. I had the privilege of living through the '50s and '60s when radio was at its best. I dearly loved WKY, KOMA, KOCY, KLPR, KTOK and even KBYE back in the day, each one for its own distinct personality. The know-nothings seem to gravitate to subjects about which they should remain silent. Terry McGrew, Don Wallace, Ronnie Kaye (yep, he has been on radio THAT LONG), Dale Wehba (spelling?), Danny Williams, Tom Furlong, Bob Riggins, Big Ben Tipton, B. Mark Summers, and so many other DJs set a high standard in the OKC market. When talk radio got going, Andy McCollum, Ed Hardy, John Dale, again Bob Riggins, among others made it interesting. Remember the serials on radio, like The Adventures of Chicken Man? KTOK has a rich history and I am so saddened to see Clear Channel cheapen it. Times change and so do programming methods, tastes and social mores. So long, KTOK. It was nice to know ya.

[happyday]

If I was an unemployed talk radio guy, I would 'audition' nationally by creating my own daily or weekly podcast. Do it from home with only a microphone and an internet connection. A fairly unknown marketing guy in South Africa recently started his own podcast. Within two weeks he had an audience (subscribers) of over 30,000 downloads. That's way more listeners than these local stations. If nothing else, do your own affiliate marketing to Amazon and other places as your commercials.

There are endless possibilities for getting your voice out there, despite these mega-corporations who lock down the local market with their large footprint.

[SoonerDave]

I'm an unabashed radio lover from way back. I had the privilege of living through the '50s and '60s when radio was at its best. I dearly loved WKY, KOMA, KOCY, KLPR, KTOK and even KBYE back in the day, each one for its own distinct personality. The know-nothings seem to gravitate to subjects about which they should remain silent. Terry McGrew, Don Wallace, Ronnie Kaye (yep, he has been on radio THAT LONG), Dale Wehba (spelling?), Danny Williams, Tom Furlong, Bob Riggins, Big Ben Tipton, B. Mark Summers, and so many other DJs set a high standard in the OKC market. When talk radio got going, Andy McCollum, Ed Hardy, John Dale, again Bob Riggins, among others made it interesting. Remember the serials on radio, like The Adventures of Chicken Man? KTOK has a rich history and I am so saddened to see Clear Channel cheapen it. Times change and so do programming methods, tastes and social mores. So long, KTOK. It was nice to know ya.

I grew up listening to KTOK when John Dayle was parroting his fake moon landing theories, and Carlton Cordell was doing these hysterical comedy bits about Oklahoma being attacked by the Mexican Navy or the dangers of electrons falling out of your electrical plugs. The great thing is that callers would pick up on the joke(s) (although Dayle was deadly serious) and perpetuate it at the expense of people who thought it was serious. Those folks really knew how to stir up a radio audience.

I remember KTOK's Ten-Spot Jackpot and HiLo games, and their Diamond Hunts that were run by Ed Sossen, who left OK under quite a bit of controversy relating to a child's home called the Genesis House. I remember Bob Durgin playing hangman on some evenings, and even Lou Staples (RIP) starting a sports radio talk gig with a guy named Al Eschbach (sp), which was arguably one of the very first radio talk shows devoted to sports nearly anywhere. There was an afternoon crew called "John and Debbie" (John McCormick and Debbie June Mann, actually, as I recall) who used to get in trouble for all kinds of racy double-entendre jokes, which was very surprising considering their manager at that time was Ken Gaines, a devout Christian who helmed a biblical/prayer hour on Sunday mornings with his wife (Barbara, I think?).

Bob Riggins was as much an institution in OK radio as you can get. He was always "pouring a fresh cup of coffee" and you could just hear the smile on his face. B.J. Wexler used to do his "Telephone Poll" at lunchtime after Paul Harvey, and is still in this market on OETA hosting the movie club. KTOK was a great, great station in that era, an era that is, sadly, gone forever.

[RealJimbo]

I grew up listening to KTOK when John Dayle was parroting his fake moon landing theories, and Carlton Cordell was doing these hysterical comedy bits about Oklahoma being attacked by the Mexican Navy or the dangers of electrons falling out of your electrical plugs. The great thing is that callers would pick up on the joke(s) (although Dayle was deadly serious) and perpetuate it at the expense of people who thought it was serious. Those folks really knew how to stir up a radio audience.

I remember KTOK's Ten-Spot Jackpot and HiLo games, and their Diamond Hunts that were run by Ed Sossen, who left OK under quite a bit of controversy relating to a child's home called the Genesis House. I remember Bob Durgin playing hangman on some evenings, and even Lou Staples (RIP) starting a sports radio talk gig with a guy named Al Eschbach (sp), which was arguably one of the very first radio talk shows devoted to sports nearly anywhere. There was an afternoon crew called "John and Debbie" (John McCormick and Debbie June Mann, actually, as I recall) who used to get in trouble for all kinds of racy double-entendre jokes, which was very surprising considering their manager at that time was Ken Gaines, a devout Christian who helmed a biblical/prayer hour on Sunday mornings with his wife (Barbara, I think?).

Bob Riggins was as much an institution in OK radio as you can get. He was always "pouring a fresh cup of coffee" and you could just hear the smile on his face. B.J. Wexler used to do his "Telephone Poll" at lunchtime after Paul Harvey, and is still in this market on OETA hosting the movie club. KTOK was a great, great station in that era, an era that is, sadly, gone forever.

SoonerDave...Wow, I forgot to mention the Ten-Spot Jackpot, etc. Yep, all those personalities you mention I remember well. John and Debbie were a ton of fun. How about Red Rover and Captain Jim Perdue? Of course my friend Pam Henry started out doing her news reporting on KTOK. And you are so right about Bob Riggins. I'll bet he sold tons of Cain's Coffee just from the sound of the coffee pouring and his velvet-smooth "ahhhh, that's good".

First time I ever heard Al Eschbach it hurt my ears. I couldn't stand him! But he proved very shortly that he was a local Howard Cosell - he knows his stuff!

I ran into John Dayle once at a friend's place of business. He was HUGE! And intimidating! But really friendly and gracious in person. Thanks for the memories!

[Soonerman]

I'm sure going to miss Dan being on KXY in the morning.

[Steve]

No, you really can blame this ENTIRELY on Clear Channel. They went around gobbling up radio stations throughout the country with leveraged debt with the assumption they could cheapen the programming through a virtual monopoly stranglehold and that people would have no choice but to listen anyway (gosh - didn't see iPods and Sirius coming, did they?). With audiences nose-diving, and the CEO unwilling to give up multi-million pay packages, there was but just one choice left - to gut what was left of local operations and automate it as much as possible. Citidel was guilty of the same business model and went bankrupt. Clear Channel likely won't be far behind.

[Lindsay Architect]

...or a gracious one.

[MikeOKC]

No, you really can blame this ENTIRELY on Clear Channel. They went around gobbling up radio stations throughout the country with leveraged debt with the assumption they could cheapen the programming through a virtual monopoly stranglehold and that people would have no choice but to listen anyway (gosh - didn't see iPods and Sirius coming, did they?). With audiences nose-diving, and the CEO unwilling to give up multi-million pay packages, there was but just one choice left - to gut what was left of local operations and automate it as much as possible. Citidel was guilty of the same business model and went bankrupt. Clear Channel likely won't be far behind.

Absolutely. No doubt. Spot-on. +1. And all the other things that say, "I agree." You nailed it.

It's angered me so much I even removed my 'I Heart Radio' app from my iPad (it's owned by Clear Channel). Tune-In is better anyway.

[Lindsay Architect]

They should have gave Mr. Bohnen a gratious exit at least if they can't afford a 32 year veteran or whatever the deal is. That being said, eggman tried to hard to be funny and it was mostly childish, so not entertaining. I like Reed Mullins hope they keep him. I started listening to Neel Boortz on 1520 on the way home, thats an example of serious issues but its still entertaining. Who is Eggmans replacement, the McCain Brothers?