Klos

Fans of the "Mark & Brian" show on KLOS-FM (95.5) have steeled themselves for weeks that Mark Thompson planned to retire after 25 years; during Friday's show - the duo's last together - they found out Brian Phelps is leaving as well. Phelps had been in talks with the station's parent company, Cumulus Media Inc., but said he broke those off Thursday when the sides hadn't come to terms. He announced during the farewell morning show that instead he's launching a podcast with actress and comedian Jill Whelan, known from "Airplane!"

Like thousands of other Angelenos, Heidi Hamilton was listening to the final "Mark & Brian" show on KLOS-FM while driving to work Aug. 17, and heard a tearful Brian Phelps announce that he - following in his partner Mark Thompson's footsteps - had decided to leave the station. For most listeners, it signaled the end of an era. Hamilton realized she'd just gotten a new job - Brian's. "Oh, my God," she recalled thinking. "I think my life's going to change in a big way. " Hamilton and her partner, Frank Kramer, will debut the "Heidi & Frank" show on KLOS-FM (95.5)

Like thousands of other Angelenos, Heidi Hamilton was listening to the final "Mark & Brian" show on KLOS-FM while driving to work Aug. 17, and heard a tearful Brian Phelps announce that he - following in his partner Mark Thompson's footsteps - had decided to leave the station. For most listeners, it signaled the end of an era. Hamilton realized she'd just gotten a new job - Brian's. "Oh, my God," she recalled thinking. "I think my life's going to change in a big way. " Hamilton and her partner, Frank Kramer, will debut the "Heidi & Frank" show on KLOS-FM (95.5)

Fans of the "Mark & Brian" show on KLOS-FM (95.5) have steeled themselves for weeks that Mark Thompson planned to retire after 25 years; during Friday's show - the duo's last together - they found out Brian Phelps is leaving as well. Phelps had been in talks with the station's parent company, Cumulus Media Inc., but said he broke those off Thursday when the sides hadn't come to terms. He announced during the farewell morning show that instead he's launching a podcast with actress and comedian Jill Whelan, known from "Airplane!"

I think the real reason KLOS is depriving it listeners of hearing Guns 'N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" is the incident involving the band's behavior during the "Rockline" program. Speaking of obnoxiousness, has program director Charlie West ever listened to the KLOS morning deejays? I guess obnoxious behavior is OK if it makes his station money. MELISSA JOHNSTON Redondo Beach

Jim Ladd can drop rock-star names like nobody's business — no surprise considering music's been his business for four decades. Or it had been until late last month when the new owners of L.A. rock radio station KLOS-FM (95.5) gave the boot to Ladd, who had been holding court behind a microphone there for the last 14 years. And that was just his latest stint at the station. Ladd logged a total of 20 years during three separate tours of rock 'n' roll radio duty at KLOS. A fixture on the Southern California airwaves, Ladd also chalked up nine years at the defunct station KMET-FM before it dumped rock for an easy-listening format dubbed "The Wave," as well as time at L.A.'s short-lived KEDG-FM ("The Edge")

After 25 years at KLOS-FM (95.5) -- as a DJ, then music director and most recently as program director -- Rita Wilde is departing the classic rock station today. In a statement issued by the station, neither Wilde nor KLOS President John H. Davison offered an explanation, and Wilde didn't say what she'd be doing next. Davison praised her passionate devotion to the station and Wilde said she was departing "with my dignity and integrity intact." She'll be replaced by Bob Buchmann, former program director at classic-rock station WAXQ-FM in New York.

Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps had a pleasant, safe and lucrative little gig at a Birmingham, Ala., Top 40 station when a voice said to them: "Go west, young men . . . go west." Actually, that voice belonged to then KLOS program director Kurt Kelly, who had heard of the pair's top-rated show through the radio grapevine and approached them regarding a move to Los Angeles to fill a morning void at 95.5 FM.

Capitulating to the demands of civil rights organizations, Walt Disney Co. publicly apologized Tuesday for its role in an "inappropriate and unacceptable" radio promotion called "The Black Hoe," but critics rejected the gesture and said they will go forward with a boycott against the Burbank firm.

Rounding out a period of two straight years, KOST-FM again emerged at the top of the radio ratings heap, while top-ranked morning duo Mark and Brian, of KLOS-FM, also maintained their lead over the early morning airwaves, according to quarterly Arbitron ratings released Thursday. "It's great to be No. 1," said KOST general manager Howard Neal. "In my opinion, it's reflective of the programming of the radio station and the mood that the station puts the listeners in." Even though the KLOS (95.

Mark Thompson started his radio career at 16, as a janitor at a station in his hometown, Florence, Ala. On Friday, in his white Mercedes convertible, he'll pull away from KLOS-FM (95.5) on his own terms, having finished his final stint as co-host of the "Mark & Brian" show. " "It's just time," said Thompson, now 56. "Guys my age, they're dropping dead. There are other things I want to do. " His departure will mark the end of what is the longest-running morning radio show in the Los Angeles-Orange County market - one that has consistently been among the most popular for more than two decades, a collection of comedy bits, banter and celebrity interviews.

Radio ratings for July remained much the same as the previous month, with pop-music station KIIS-FM (102.7) once again having a strong summer, and closing in on 4 million weekly listeners - a milestone it hasn't reached since July 2011. KIIS, whose Top 40 playlist features Rihanna, Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and other pop stars, led all stations among Los Angeles and Orange County listeners age 6 and older, according to figures released Monday by the Arbitron ratings service. KBIG-FM (104.3)

Jim Ladd can drop rock-star names like nobody's business — no surprise considering music's been his business for four decades. Or it had been until late last month when the new owners of L.A. rock radio station KLOS-FM (95.5) gave the boot to Ladd, who had been holding court behind a microphone there for the last 14 years. And that was just his latest stint at the station. Ladd logged a total of 20 years during three separate tours of rock 'n' roll radio duty at KLOS. A fixture on the Southern California airwaves, Ladd also chalked up nine years at the defunct station KMET-FM before it dumped rock for an easy-listening format dubbed "The Wave," as well as time at L.A.'s short-lived KEDG-FM ("The Edge")

Ten leading crime writers are competing for the honor of having a morgue named after them. Scotland's University of Dundee said Monday that it would name its new morgue and research facility after whichever writer gets the most votes in an online poll and fundraising effort. Kathy Reichs, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Harlan Coben, Mark Billingham and Val McDermid are among the authors taking part in the "Million for a Morgue" campaign. Each person who votes donates $1.60 to a money-raising campaign.

After 25 years at KLOS-FM (95.5) -- as a DJ, then music director and most recently as program director -- Rita Wilde is departing the classic rock station today. In a statement issued by the station, neither Wilde nor KLOS President John H. Davison offered an explanation, and Wilde didn't say what she'd be doing next. Davison praised her passionate devotion to the station and Wilde said she was departing "with my dignity and integrity intact." She'll be replaced by Bob Buchmann, former program director at classic-rock station WAXQ-FM in New York.

"Breakfast With the Beatles," the long-running L.A. radio staple devoted to the music of the Fab Four, makes the jump to satellite radio starting this Sunday, when it premieres on Sirius XM Satellite Radio as part of Little Steven's Underground Garage lineup. The show, broadcast in Los Angeles on KLOS-FM (95.5) and hosted by Chris Carter, will go out Sundays at 6 a.m. Pacific time on Sirius XM Channel 25, (with a repeat at 9 p.m.) while remaining in its 9 a.m. slot at KLOS. Each show will be different, Carter said Monday.

Last fall, a woman phoned Mark & Brian on KLOS-FM and told of committing a sex act involving her dog. Clearly titillated, they pressed for details. In the conversation that followed, little was left to the imagination. I wrote a letter of complaint to KLOS and received this explanation from the program director, Ken Anthony: "Mark & Brian are pet owners who contribute much time and effort into the annual Mark & Brian Pet Adoption Day. . . . They certainly had no intention to promote cruelty to animals."

Generally speaking, KLOS-FM's on-air personalities are thoroughly competent professionals. Mark and Brian amuse without resorting to blatant crudity, while Bob Coburn and Joe Benson are superb musicologists and Gino Michellini is an amiable mix of both. However, the station's latest acquisition, the Greaseman, is another story. There is nothing worse than having to listen to someone who believes himself to be truly funny and who, in reality, is about as funny as last year's riots.

Walt Disney Co. is angling to re-sign KLOS-FM talk-show hosts Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps to a five-year deal estimated to be worth $15 million, company sources said. The move comes after Disney paid more than $3 million to resolve racial discrimination lawsuits stemming from a 1998 KLOS promotion called "The Black Hoe," during which the deejays gave away black plastic gardening tools as gag prizes on their top-rated "Mark & Brian Show."

Actors and musicians including Frankie Muniz, Don Cheadle, Joe Mantegna, Vince Neil, Patrick Warburton, Ryan Stiles, Wil Shriner, Judd Nelson and Chad Everett will take part in radio station KLOS-FM's (95.5) second annual Mark & Brian Celebrity Golf Tournament on Saturday, hosted by the station's morning-show co-hosts Mark Thompson and Brian Phelps. The event, which begins at 9 a.m. at the Coyote Hills Golf Course in Fullerton, will benefit the KLOS Food Bank and the T.J.