Veteran Broadcaster Herman Departs KFWB

Veteran Los Angeles broadcaster Cleve Herman, who has been with KFWB-AM (980) as a sports and news reporter since 1952, has left the station, the fast-talking radio man said Friday.

While Ken Beck, the all-news station’s news director, described the departure as retirement, Herman said that he “would not describe it as retiring, but regrouping or retooling myself for what 1990s news is going to be. We (he and station management) had grave professional and philosophical differences about the news and reporting that has caused us to have an amicable parting.”

Herman, 72, was last heard on the station last Sunday.

Herman worked at KFWB for 37 years, reaching back to a time when the station was No. 1 in the local market with a mix of Top 40 music and news reports, and he said he had intended to work well into his 80s.

He plans now to work on a novel about the radio business and he said he is open to other broadcasting opportunities.

Herman worked at both the Los Angeles Express and the old Daily News before moving to broadcasting in 1952.