Rich Is Out at Station KRMX-FM

Five months after he helped launch a new format at KRMX-FM (94.9), program director and morning personality Bobby Rich is out of a job.

After a meeting Friday between Rich and station General Manager Bob Visotcky--along with attorneys for both parties--Visotcky said Rich has resigned. Rich was off the air all of last week, after being suspended by Visotcky, apparently for airing a routine that the general manager didn’t like.

“He has resigned and that is all the comment I will have,” Visotcky said Friday.

But in a phone interview Thursday Rich said he wanted to return to the station. He also said he had received a letter from Visotcky accusing Rich of “undermining his authority.”

“It’s a very, very strange thing,” Rich said Thursday from Prescott, Arizona, where he was vacationing during his suspension.

Reached at his home in San Diego on Saturday, Rich would not comment on the situation.

“All I can tell you is that I have resigned,” Rich said.

Within the radio industry it is not unusual for the ex-employee to be barred from talking about the station as part of settlement terms in such situations.

Rich is best known to San Diego radio listeners as the program director and morning personality for KFMB-FM (B100), where he hosted the popular show “Morning Zoo With the Rich Brothers” for five years until July of 1989. He left to become general manager of KMGI-FM and KIXI-AM in Seattle.

Things didn’t work out in Seattle, and in February Rich returned to San Diego to bring the Rich Brothers concept to KKYY, which was in the process of changing its call letters to KRMX and inserting a new format, a blend of oldies and current hits called “The New Mix.”

Since February, almost all the key station employees have either quit or been fired by Visotcky, who joined the station a few weeks before Rich. The quarterly Arbitron ratings numbers, which were extremely low before the format switch, have remained dismal since then, although station executives have been trumpeting the most recent Arbitron trend report, which showed a significant increase in the station’s audience.

Meanwhile, rumors continue to circulate within the radio industry that Sandusky Radio is preparing to sell KRMX.

A week ago Sunday Rich said he met with Visotcky and was informed that he was being suspended for airing a routine called “Rufus the Weather Dog.” According to Rich, Visotcky told him that he had been expressly forbidden from airing the routine, featuring a dog-like voice that gives the weather forecasts and tells jokes. Rich said Thursday that he had never been told not to do the Rufus bit, although he was “aware (Visotcky) didn’t like it.”

Rich said the formal letter he received last week from Visotcky accused him of “insubordination,” and listed other transgressions, all of which Rich said were extremely minor.

“There is nothing logical about why he is doing this,” Rich said Thursday.

Rich said Saturday that he plans to look for work in San Diego.

“I am immediately available to go to work,” Rich said. “I plan to go door to door with a sign saying ‘Hire Bobby Rich.’ ”