KNX Drops Lightbody as Analyst : Radio: L.A. station’s news director says he’s concerned by questions raised about the Irvine resident’s credentials.

KNX radio in Los Angeles has “severed relations” with Andy Lightbody, the all-news station’s military and aerospace editor, following a Los Angeles Times profile that raised questions about his credentials. Station news director Robert Sims said he was concerned by the issues raised in The Times story but decline further comment.

Lightbody, reached yesterday at his home in Irvine, said he had no comment.

The announcement that Lightbody was being dropped came in a one-sentence electronic message issued by Sims to KNX editors on April 2, the day after The Times article appeared.

At various times, Lightbody has claimed to be a graduate of Loyola University, a former Air Force officer and--in a sworn statement during a 1988 workers’ compensation hearing--a former fighter pilot.

But records show that Lightbody did not graduate from Loyola (he has two degrees from the now-defunct, never-accredited University of Beverly Hills); never was an Air Force officer, and his highest flight certification is student pilot.

In a written statement before The Times profile was published, Lightbody said, “The excellent relationship I have with the defense and high-technology industries, as well as the military, was never based upon where I went to school or military background.”

Likewise, in a statement that followed the article, he said that he has “logged hundreds of hours of flight time” and that his “ability to ‘fly and fly in’ a host of military aircraft is well known. My decision not to seek various flight ratings is strictly a personal one. It has never been the subject of question with the military in my covering subjects related to high performance aircraft.”

While Lightbody was reporting on defense, aerospace and high-technology issues for KNX, which is owned and operated by CBS, he also was reporting for KTTV Channel 11 and the Financial News Network on cable.

A spokesman for the CBS Radio Stations News Service in Washington, D.C., which had been distributing Lightbody’s reports to other network-owned affiliates and had been discussing a syndicated high-technology program, declined to comment on Lightbody’s status.

Dick Tuininga, news director for KTTV Channel 11, where Lightbody had been a contract employee until March 31, would not say whether Lightbody’s contract has been renewed. He did say, though, that “currently, we do not have anything on the burner for him.” In the future, “we would use him as the need arises,” Tuininga said.

A spokeswoman for the Financial News Network in Los Angeles said that Lightbody’s program is continuing to air in reruns but that any decision regarding new shows probably will be made by the financially troubled network’s new owners, CNBC, once the sale is approved.

Lightbody was also averaging $10,000 a month in speakers fees, mostly from defense contractors, according to his agent, Lilly Walters of Pasadena.

However, in a letter to The Times, Lightbody said the $10,000 figure was “a misrepresentation,” adding, “I only wish my talents would be in such demand.” Lightbody said his speaking engagements go “far beyond” the defense community. “I regularly address everyone from civic groups to international corporations and associations. Many have not relation to the ‘military’ at all,” he said.

Lightbody is also North American editor of the Geneva-based Aerospace World magazine.