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Clear Channel cuts: KFAN's Mr. Phunn, KTLK's Perry, KOOL's Donovan

By David Brauer | 04/28/09

Another Black Tuesday at the local Clear Channel radio empire, with the following talent let go today:

♦ At KFAN, Joe "Mr. Phunn" Anderson, a sidekick on Dan Barreiro's afternoon show. (The Strib's Neal Justin has the details on what appears to be a non-acrimonious parting.)

♦ At KTLK, 5-7 a.m. talker Langdon Perry and newscaster Danielle Hitchings

♦ At K102, morning personality "Fish"

♦ At KOOL108, morning host Lois Mae and afternoon host Dan Donovan

There are a few other on-air names getting the ax, though not top personalities, and of course, many off-air Clear Channel employees have also lost their jobs.

This is only the most recent purge at the debt-burdened national conglomerate. In January, Clear Channel laid off KFAN icon Chad Hartman and producer Doogie Wolfson, plus KOOL 108's Derek Moran and Dan Riggs.

KOOL, the oldies station, has in effect blown up its entire morning-to-late-night schedule in the past four months.

Clear Channel's local market manager Mike Crusham has not yet returned a call for comment.

Comments (10)

Submitted by John Olson on April 28, 2009 - 2:22pm.

Three words:

slacker dot com

Submitted by Matt Pollari on April 28, 2009 - 2:27pm.

Sad to see Joe Anderson let go, always enjoyed him.

Submitted by Spencer Gluekman (not verified) on April 28, 2009 - 3:02pm.

The end of an era. No more "Call for Dan Donovan!" Pity.

Read the industry trades and you'll find story after story about all these high-paid executives scratching their heads, wondering why they keep losing market share. Just like the newspaper and television, radio is losing (has lost?) its relevance.

Submitted by Dean Carlson on April 28, 2009 - 3:42pm.

Yikes! What's Barriero gonna do without Phunnsie? The quality of that show is going to suffer greatly.

Submitted by Jim Leinfelder on April 28, 2009 - 4:08pm.

Don't know what, if anything, this says about the relevancy of Twin Cities radio, but I have never heard of any of these people.

Submitted by Jason Nagel on April 28, 2009 - 8:07pm.

I'm gonna miss all of those folks, but Donovan most of all.

And, thanks to Jim Leinfelder, I now know who the 6 percent "I don't know" is that I see in so many polls.

Have a little respect. These people did great work, and now they no longer have jobs.

Jason Nagel

Submitted by Jason DeRusha on April 28, 2009 - 10:41pm.

Dan Donovan's been in radio for more than 50 years. He's a member of the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame. It's a shame that his voice won't be on the air any more. What are they doing with KOOL? Going the JACK route, and dumping all the jocks?

Submitted by Rae Lee on April 29, 2009 - 11:11am.

This from the P.A. show page on KFAN.com:
.. CHANGES: As you may have heard BARREIRO mention more Clear Channel nationwide changes and it hits our shows. PHUNN left the company on good terms, GAARDSIE and Barreiro have a good on-air chemistry and I always have been Flexible Employee Guy. So, in a couple of weeks Justin is off to Phunn's role with Bump and former producer/confidant/program director/executive producer Vikes Radio Network/OL coach STA/dad adds more to his plate and will engineer/produce/sidekick the 9-to-Noon Presentation.
Change is nothing new for me and I welcome Sheikh back into the mix. He'll have fun. And for Justin this is a promotion in that he gets to be part of the most popular men 25-54 drivetime show in this market and work with a VOX who is very good at what he does.
Making the very best of very strange times at CC, and given this is a free-agency year for KFAN and the Vikes I am sure it'll become more intense as the season winds down.
We will present the Vikings with a rock-star deal, so obviously I hope they stay, but the call will come down to them. We have forged many special relationships with Vikings' employees at all levels and the partnership has been tremendous.
Que sera, sera, right? As the great DARYL HALL once sang, "...the more things change the more they stay the same, it's just the ways and means become rearranged."

Submitted by William Levin on April 29, 2009 - 8:13pm.

Dan Donovan always had a reputation of respecting his co-workers and he always ran a good drive-time show. I will truly miss his Sunday noontime show of oldies. The choices he highlighted were not the standard items but those that are rarely heard. And now, never heard.

Submitted by Jim Leinfelder on April 30, 2009 - 10:27am.

My apologies, Mr.Nagel. I did not mean to impugn the broadcasting skills of any of the people recently laid off. My observation and musing on what my lack of awareness that any of them had been on the air means about the relevancy of Twin Cities radio was stated flippantly and insensitively. I am sorry.

I held no opinion of them, given that they were unknown to me. But I am always sorry to learn of anyone losing his or her job, especially in these times.

Mr. Donovan would appear to have had an enviably distinguished and long-lived career. But, alas, he is among the last of his kind. There will be, by management's very deliberate design, no more Steve Cannons or Dan Donovans. The medium has been slouching in that banal direction for some time now, hence my loss of interest. The medium is largely devoid of distinct, smart voices. And therefore, for me, largely irrelevant. Your bosses are killing it.

Mischke's on a weekly newspaper's website. Bob Yates can't get arrested. Lambert and Janaczek, while neither of them broadcasters, had a distinct pairing of voices and KTLK killed it for a more expensive right-wing gas bag with no better numbers than they garnered. Hartman's gone. Hell, I'd welcome Hines and Berglund back to the air waves. Before he got religion, Chuck Knapp was at least a distinctive persona.

It's all so boring, or worse, insulting to the listeners' intelligence. Why is there nothing in the vast land of opportunity between the self-satisfied and pedantic offerings of public radio and the wasteland that is right-wing talk and formulaic top 40? There's a lot of room for something else between the two extremes. Something better. I chalk it up to the expedient greed of management/stockholders.

But then, given that a sensibility such as Tom Bernard's is the 800-lb. gorilla in this market, perhaps my complaint is with the listeners. I don't know.

You attempt to comfort yourself by implying that I am somehow out of touch, a know nothing. I can certainly understand why you'd do that. But quite the opposite is true. I am a voracious consumer of all media and a big fan of the medium. But I struggle to find a reason to tune into the vast majority of what is proffered.

I do hear you on the air, Mr. Nagel.