Arthur Claims He Was Fired by KABC

Longtime KABC-AM (790) host Bob Arthur, who last year announced his retirement and left the station’s popular morning “Ken and Bob Company” amid much fanfare, now says that he was forced out by management because of his age and that his friend and on-air partner of 17 years, Ken Minyard, “orchestrated it.”

Arthur departed in September, 1990, after 23 years with KABC, and was replaced by Roger Barkley in October. The show’s name was changed to the “The Ken and Barkley Company.”

“Retirement, hell! I was fired, “ Arthur maintained in a letter to The Times this week, written in response to a story that ran Monday about the one-year anniversary of Minyard and Barkley.

“Ken Minyard did not learn of my plans to retire--he orchestrated them,” Arthur wrote. “It was all well-planned by Ken and (KABC General Manager George) Green. Through a series of maneuvers it all came to pass, and Bob Arthur was retired, still insisting he was not retiring.”

Green and Minyard strongly denied the allegations and expressed surprise at what they characterized as “lashing out.”

“I’m disappointed he would do this after a year,” Green said Thursday. “I don’t know what he’s going to benefit from all this. . . . He wasn’t being ousted because of his age. It had nothing to do with his age. Bob departed, orchestrated by him, with his acknowledgement. He contributed a lot to this radio station. It was a very classy retirement and I don’t want to say anything a year later. He doesn’t deserve to be hurt anymore than maybe he has been by seeing any articles about the success of the ‘Ken and Barkley Company.’ ”

Minyard denied that he had a hand in getting rid of Arthur.

“Where does he get that information?” Minyard asked in a telephone interview. “That’s obviously speculation on his part. That’s what I was afraid of. Bob is bitter and lashing out and wanting to blame other people. Believe me, the decision was not mine. It was between George (Green) and him.”

Arthur, an award-winning newsman, said that he is not bitter. Rather, he said, he wanted to set the record straight, after having initially gone along with the retirement story to fulfill an agreement he made with KABC management to ensure he received his severance pay.

Arthur recounted a conversation in which Green called him into his office, inquired about his age and informed him that was going to be dropped from the show.

“First, he started off asking how old I was,” Arthur said in a telephone interview this week from his home in Albuquerque. “He said, ‘Gee, Bob, you’re 71 now, aren’t you?’ And I told him, ‘No, I’m 69.’ Then he said, ‘I wanted to tell you, Bob, we are terminating your contract as of Dec. 31, 1990.’ . . . They’re lucky that I haven’t filed an age discrimination suit against them.”

Arthur said that Green also held him responsible for KABC’s slipping a notch in the ratings, even though Minyard and Arthur were consistently in the Top 3 through most of their tenure.

Green said that he does not remember making any such comments and would not elaborate. “I don’t want to get embroiled in a year-old situation,” he said. “It’s not in keeping with our policy.”

At the time, Arthur said, an agreement was reached in which the station would pay him through the end of 1990 provided he cooperate in the show’s transition and sign an agreement promising not to file suit against the station. That agreement terminated when he received his severance pay on Jan. 1, 1991, Arthur said.

After having participated in what he describes now as a retirement “charade,” Arthur said he was coming forward now because of comments made by Minyard and Green in The Times on the first anniversary of the Minyard-Barkley team.

“I didn’t say anything at the time (of leaving the station) because I didn’t feel that I wanted to cause any difficulty,” Arthur said. “It was the tenor of the quotes that compelled me to say there’s at least more than one side to the story.”

Green also attributed Arthur’s remarks to news accounts. “The man has a tremendous amount of pride in what he did and when he saw articles written about the first anniversary (of Minyard and Barkley) and found out indeed that they were doing fabulously well, his emotions were split, so he had to lash out in some way.”

Arthur denied that he was lashing out.

“I’m not angry; I’m not seeking revenge at all. If I were really trying to get revenge, I would have done that on Jan. 2, not a year after I left the air. It was only the comments (about the new show’s ratings success and younger demographics) that prompted me to say this is going a bit too far. The implication was (that) I’m gone, so they got a younger audience. That with my demise the young ones are flocking over, making me responsible for the ratings drop. If (Green) had let sleeping dogs lie and had not made it appear that I was responsible for the program going downhill, I would have let it go because I’ve let everything go for a year. But those were downright lies.”

Green had told The Times that, since Barkley replaced Arthur, KABC’s morning show has drawn a more desirable, younger audience. “We’re getting rid of our geriatric image and replacing it with a fast, hip show,” Green said.

On Thursday, Green denied implying that Arthur was responsible for attracting mainly an older audience.

“That’s not true,” Green said. “I never talked about him being responsible for anything other than helping the show get to where it is today. I will always be grateful to Bob Arthur for being part of a great 17-year run.”

Green cited the elaborate festivities surrounding Arthur’s last show as indicative of the esteem in which he was held at the station.

“When he left the radio station, I was so proud at the way he left with his head high,” Green said. “We gave him a tremendous party at the Century Plaza with his blessing and his endorsement. The whole thing was just a wonderful end to a career at this radio station. It was just (learning of these accusations) yesterday that disappointed me. “

Arthur’s final broadcast was indeed a lavish affair, with several thousand fans in attendance and appreciative words from fellow KABC employees and a passel of celebrities and politicians. A Los Angeles City Council proclamation declared that day, Sept. 14, “Bob Arthur Day.”

“It was a very elaborate charade,” Arthur said. “People turned out by the thousands. I was touched by the things people said and grateful for their words. They were generous in their praise and generous in their applause and I think they were very kind. It was most appreciated, the loyalty of the fans. . . . But the ulterior motive (of KABC management) was not to make me look good as much as it was to make the station look good and to dull any criticism that might come up. . . . It was show business. Look how they milked that.”

Arthur said that he had hoped all the publicity would help him with a project he was involved in at the time, setting up six homes for victims of Alzheimer’s disease in an affluent Long Beach neighborhood. The project never came to pass, partly due to neighborhood opposition and partly, he said, because he was denied a loan after his KABC employment ended.

Arthur said that he still feels betrayed by Minyard.

“I considered Ken, if not a best friend, a very good friend,” Arthur said. “We had shared confidences, we had both gone through raising our kids together. We’d gone on vacations together. We saw each other socially. There was never any indication that this sort of thing would happen.”

Minyard said that he was saddened by Arthur’s comments.

“Bob and I had a lot of good years,” he said. “. . . If, in fact, there was unpleasantness when he left, it wasn’t with me. But it’s not uncommon for a person to not be working some place and start charging other people with all kinds of things. . . . It’s too bad that we have to get into this. We certainly had a nice run. As to our personal relationship, what difference does it make? I don’t want to respond to that. It’s not the stuff that needs to be paraded through the newspapers.”

Meanwhile, Arthur said that he doesn’t miss the daily grind of the show, particularly having to get up at 3:30 a.m. for the 5-9 a.m. broadcast.

“It’s a very cold business,” Arthur said. “It’s not the first time I was fired. It was the last time, but not the first time.”