Over the weekend, Redlands-based radio station KCAL-FM 96.7 started playing music without any on-air staff, after laying off all of its personalities last week and transitioning into an “All Music, All the Time” classic rock format.
“96.7 KCAL Rocks is turning the page today. Thank you to every listener who made the last chapter what it was,” the station’s staff wrote on social media. “Classic rock. Nothing but music. All day across the Inland Empire.”
The station’s veteran radio hosts, part-timers and weekend fill-ins all were cut loose, including Daryl Norsell, who said he worked at the station for 42 years; Patrick Tish, who said he worked there for 15 years, and Nikki Preston. John DeSantis, the evening host and program director for the last six years, confirmed the layoffs on social media.
“They will be moving to an automated, human-less format. To say this is shocking is an understatement. I have a lot to process, and will be saying more shortly,” DeSantis wrote. “But for right now, I just want to thank all of you for letting me be part of the KCAL family. It has been a radio dream come true. You will always rock.”
The station has served the Inland Empire since first hitting the airwaves in 1965. KCAL is owned by Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation, which also operates the area’s classic hits station, KOLA 99.9 FM. Together, the two stations reach more than 800,000 weekly listeners in the Riverside-San Bernardino market, according to Anaheim Broadcasting. The company could not be reached for a comment on the layoffs.
“We rebuilt KCAL around the music our listeners grew up on, the songs and the artists that made classic rock,” Kelly Sanders, the chief operating officer of Anaheim Broadcasting Corporation, said in a news release to the Southern California News Group “KCAL will deliver a focused, consistent listening experience with broader appeal for both our audience and advertising partners.”
The release also noted that the change “expands the station’s musical focus and will have fewer interruptions and more music throughout the day” and did not address the layoffs, according to a report from the OC Register.
This is the second major blow to the Inland Empire’s broadcast community this summer. In June, the last local on-air hosts at Riverside-based KGGI-FM were laid off, in iHeartMedia’s latest round of national job cuts. In an internal memo, the media giant said the cuts were meant to restructure its radio programming to better “leverage” the company’s technology.
Steve “Razz” Brazill started working at KCAL FM in 1987, as the station’s resident concert photographer and radio personality. In a social media post, he called KCAL his “home” and reminisced about hosting live events at the now-closed Whiskey Creek restaurant in Redlands.
“KCAL has been a part of my identity. And I’m so happy to say I never really had coworkers, I had friends and family, and memories I’ll cherish forever,” Brazill wrote. “Being a part of KCAL ended for all of us today, but those relationships won’t. I’ll miss seeing you all at the studio, but I look forward to seeing you in real life.”
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