Local Morning Edition host Susanne Whatley retired earlier in the week. She has been a mainstay in the LA radio market having spent time at KFI and the former KFWB. Also, afternoon All Things Considered host Nick Roman hung it up this week as well. Austin Cross will take over the local Morning Edition chair in mid August. Julia Paskin has started afternoon All Things Considered hosting duties this week. Solid replacements, IMO.
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Anchor Changes at LAist 89.3
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I love Susanne Whatley and wish her a happy retirement. Best of luck to Nick Roman. I always sensed he’d be happier at a sports station, lol.
I agree that the replacements are solid.
a lot of people would be happier working at sports stations
Only if you’re a super sports fan.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
The "super sports fans" are the ones happily working at sports stations. In fact, that seems to be a prerequisite.
i worked at a sports station and was just a short step north of miserable. We were a Fox Sports station and the only tolerable show at the time was Steve Czban..... and I thought Jim Rome was a pompous jackass
I think the late Ed (Superfan) Bieler was a notable exception.To me, he didn't seem happy on any of his gigs!
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
I might as well post this now. It's been close to 40 years and I won't be saying anything non-factual. He just wouldn't like me reminding people of this ...
It is well-documented that Jim Rome began his career in Santa Barbara, first at UC Santa Barbara's KCSB/91.9, then for three years at news/talk KTMS/1250. It was during his time there that I was with co-owned KHTY/97.5 (Y97) and because the station couldn't afford to pay him a salary just to do the evening sports talk program on the AM, he was also the drive-time traffic reporter for both stations. (Actually, we both thought the idea of traffic reports in market #202 was kind of silly, and management tolerated some banter leading into his twice-hourly reports on Y97, where I was doing afternoon drive.)
Jim has a much higher sense of humor than he has displayed since going national in 1990. I was not surprised that it only took him three years to get there, but I still rather miss our shared experience at Y97.
I used to say about Jim Rome, "His wife is with him either cuse hes got lots of money or because he has a big you know what.. it cant be because of his sparkling personality...."
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
He was likeable back when I worked with him.
How things have changed over the years...today traffic reports for that Santa Barbara/Ventura County 101 corridor are an absolute necessity! And speaking of traffic reports, some decades ago, I read an interview in one of the trades with a traffic-copter pilot for one of the various tv or radio stations in the
Santa Maria/SLO region, who said somthing to the effect of: We don't really have any traffic problems in our area "but it sure is fun to play around with it!" Expensive fun!
He was at UCSB about the same time I was there (83-87), though I didn't know him back then (he was a year ahead of me, I think. Besides, I didn't really follow sports then anyway).
According to the June 21, 1984 Daily Nexus (UCSB campus paper), he was sports director of KCSB until June 1984. Did he start at KTMS not too long after that?
Indeed. How many freeways in Santa Barbara county? Uh, one? (Maybe two if you count a small part of the 154 heading into the mountains...)
True that. Nobody can afford to live in Santa Barbara proper anymore (unless you've inherited a house, etc.) so people do long-distance commuting. Lompoc, Buellton/Santa Ynez Valley, Santa Maria/Orcutt,...or south to Ventura County: Ventura, Oxnard, perhaps even as far as Camarillo. In late 1986, KEYT-TV did a weeklong series called "The Long Ride" about these out-of-area commuters.
Most of this is people driving alone, contributing to traffic. US-101 (the only freeway through the county) has been expanded from 4 to 6 lanes since my days there back in the 80s. Long-distance commuter buses have been available since 1990 or so, and the idea of a commuter train is being dusted off again (pre-Covid, a rescheduled Amtrak train left LA at about 4 AM in order to serve Ventura County residents arriving at work in Santa Barbara/Goleta around 7-7:30 am. There's talk about bringing this service back, most likely with a Metrolink train leaving Moorpark in the morning....)
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
According to his bio, he graduated from UCSB in 1987, which is the same year I started at Y97. He was not there when I was hired, but was definitely there by 1988, when I took over the afternoon shift as the late Steve Smith departed for San Jose.
So my educated guess is that KTMS hired him right after graduation.
We never talked about the 154. It was always the 101 and State St.
Did Romey's traffic reports go something like, "Crash on the 101...the slowdowns...are....un...believable...."
Same year I graduated. I was pretty much done with Santa Barbara then, went back to LA for grad school at UCLA. Still went back to SB for the occasional visit with friends, etc.
There wasn't that much to talk about. Some grade separation for about a mile north of 101, then your typical winding two-lane mountain road past Lake Cachuma and on to the Santa Ynez Valley. Probably too slow, too far away from population centers, and frankly, too dangerous for commuter use. https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/calif-highway-101-route-154-shortcut-debate-19507586.php
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Actually, no. We had a series of running jokes about the 101 center divider, though.
K.M. Richards
Program Director, The Eighties Channel™
Ah, yes. The Jacor/Clear Channel years under the call letters KLDZ.
Since 2008, they have been KCLU, under the ownership of California Lutheran University and simulcasting the Ventura County FM with the same calls.
Big loss. Whatley and Roman were both quite good. I hadn't realized Whatley had a commercial newsradio background. She was better than most you will hear as a local NPR host and a big improvement over her predecessor Alex Cohen.
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