Los Angeles radio station KFI-AM (640) news division gutted by layoffs
Radio and podcast giant iHeartMedia has laid off 13 employees at KFI-AM (640), cutting the news staff of the Los Angeles radio station in half.
KFI-AM (640) news director Chris Little, who was among the terminated staff members, revealed Tuesday on X that his team of 25 was reduced to 12. Little joined the station as a news anchor in 1991 and was promoted to news director in 2000.
One of the station’s current hosts, Tim Conway Jr., addressed the layoffs Monday on air.
“You may have heard by now ... a lot of people have left the building here at iHeartMedia, and it is tough,” Conway said at the top of his show.
“I’ve known these people my entire life here. When I started here, my daughter was 3 years old. ... It just sucks.”
The stations and ABC News won’t lose any on-air talent in the latest round of cost reductions, which Disney management described as “surgical.”
On a programming note, Conway prepared listeners for “a lot of voices on the air that you recognize,” as well as “some voices on the air soon that you won’t recognize.” He promised to provide as much information as possible while encouraging listeners to read up on the situation themselves.
“A lot of companies go through it,” he said. “A lot of people make a lot of very dear friends. ... You see them every day, and you think it’s gonna be like that for the rest of the time, and it’s not.”
IHeartMedia has undergone multiple rounds of layoffs at various stations over the past year.
Bob Pittman, chief executive of the San Antonio-based media giant, said the terminations were part of the company’s “modernization journey” and boasted about using technology to “speed up processes and streamline legacy systems” during a third-quarter earnings call last week, according to Billboard.
Ryder was previously co-host of the ‘Kevin and Bean’ morning show on KROQ-FM. He was brought over to the rival station in 2021.
Paul Corvino, president of iHeartMedia’s Los Angeles division, said in a statement to The Times that “iHeart owns the biggest news organization in audio — 24/7 News — and KFI has not been a part of that.”
“This move, although painful because it impacts some jobs, is essential for KFI to be able to harness the full power of our iHeart 24/7 News organization, and better and more completely serve our listeners in the LA market,” Corvino said.
“We appreciate all the contributions of everyone at KFI, but we are excited about the future with the KFI team now being able to expand their resources and services.”
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