KGIL Cuts Back Carole Hemingway Show : Radio: To further reduce costs, the station will replace the host’s drive-time program with syndicated shows.

Due to station budget cuts, veteran KGIL-AM talk-show host Carole Hemingway will broadcast her final daily afternoon drive-time radio show Friday at 2 p.m.

The Mission Hills-based talk station plans to replace Hemingway’s show with syndicated talk programs in an effort to cut down costs, said general manager Tom Mosher.

“I am not fired, but I am changing my position at KGIL,” said Hemingway when reached by phone on Tuesday.

Hemingway, whose show had aired on KGIL (1260) from 2 to 6 p.m., will focus her energies on her media training company and will host a daily one-hour program at the station from 1 to 2 p.m.

“She’s departing, but she’s not really,” Mosher said. “We don’t want to lose Carole.”

“All of what I have done in my career has led me to be able to form a really fabulous media-training seminar business,” said Hemingway, who has hosted radio and television shows over the last 20 years and was a syndicated columnist. “I’m very excited about devoting more time to my business, but I’m really going to miss my audience.”

Hemingway said she started her business in 1989 and hopes to focus on training politicians during this election year, citing her interest in political and social issues.

“I’ve trained politicians, business people, doctors, lawyers--anybody who has some agenda in the public arena--on how to present themselves in the media,” she said. “It’s a learned skill. . . . The business has been expanding so rapidly, and it was something I wanted to do and I really can’t do it working 20 hours of live radio a week. So, in essence, it turned out to be very good for both of us.”

The station has been paring down its staff in an effort to reduce costs since January when four people were laid off, including the program director and a news reporter. KGIL’s new lineup relies heavily on syndicated shows. Syndicated talk-show host Barry Farber will take part of Hemingway’s slot, from 2 to 4 p.m., followed by fellow syndicated host Bruce Williams, from 4 to 7 p.m.

Larry King, who was recently dropped from KMPC when the station changed formats, also has been added to the station roster. His syndicated show will air from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

“There’s no doubt that there are economies of scale in going on satellite, but I will also back up and say I hate to see Carole’s show being reduced,” Mosher said. “But it gives Carole an opportunity to do something that she’s been working on and really is dedicated to doing.”

Mosher added that for most of the day, the call-in talk shows aired on satellite will be live: “We’re looking at ways to make (the station) as efficient as we can and still protect all the bases.”