‘I thought I’d go crazy if I played ‘New Kid in Town’ one more time.’

They were radio’s Odd Couple, for 23 years the Oscar and Felix of the morning rush hour:

Al Lohman, disheveled, occasional late-sleeper, the uncannily clever wit with dozens of voices, and Roger Barkley, the meticulous straight man with the sly sense of humor.

They co-starred with the characters that leaped out of Lohman’s mind--loquacious Brawley magnate Ted J. Balogna, gluttonous food critic Leonard Leonard (author of “Eat, Or You Will Die”), reporter Cecil Hudspith (whose mobile unit was never quite in range) . . . .

Then, one morning in May of 1986, Barkley phoned in his resignation to station KFI (640). It sounded more like something that might happen to B. Mitchell Belting, the disc jockey in the pair’s soap-opera parody, “Light of My Life.”

But the straight man wasn’t joking.

Lohman showed up for work and was told he was out of a job because their contract required them to appear as a team.

Barkley soon signed on as solo host of a “beautiful music” morning show on KJOI-FM (98.7) but Lohman didn’t bounce back so quickly.

After a layoff of several months and short stints at a Simi Valley station and at KRLA (with Emperor Bob Hudson), Lohman returned to KFI last year to co-host a drive-time show with Gary Owens.

Lohman, 54, and Barkley, 52, haven’t spoken to each other since the breakup.

“I wish he’d told me what was wrong,” Lohman said recently.

Fans Took It Hard

“I have nothing against Al,” Barkley said in a separate interview. “He taught me a lot. It’s just that, after all those years, the stress was getting to me. I was on blood pressure pills.” And, he added, “I thought I’d go crazy if I played ‘New Kid in Town’ (by the Eagles) one more time.”

Their fans took it hard. “The letters that came in were painful to read,” Barkley said. “People felt like we were a part of their family.”

But each says the story has a happy ending.

“I think I’ve laughed more in the last 11 months than I had in years,” Lohman said.

Teaming up with Owens was a gamble since neither is a straight man but “we’ve both learned to listen” to each other, Lohman said.

Ted J. Balogna still pipes up but most of Lohman’s characters are gone “to the Home for Retired Silly Voices in Agoura.” Still, Lohman is his wacky self, recently tackling the Los Angeles Marathon course in his car during rush hour.

Barkley keeps the quips to a minimum on his show.

“Basically I’m there to transish between segments of music and to provide information,” he said.

He satisfies his creative desires by emceeing events ranging from charity affairs to Gov. George Deukmejian’s inaugural ball. He’s also invented a shaving brush.

“In terms of stress, there’s no comparison between our old show and this one,” Barkley said. “Except that now I have to play an instrumental version of ‘New Kid in Town’ that drives me up the wall.”

“You can say I lived happily ever after,” Lohman said.