Cutbacks Force KLON to Lay Off 6
Listeners who tune in to KLON-FM at Cal State Long Beach will get more blues and less news in the wake of recent layoffs at the jazz radio station. A budget crunch has forced KLON to lay off six employees, including four from the news staff, officials said.
Gone are morning news anchor Debra Baer and one full-time reporter, Frank Stoltze. The news section’s two-man production staff, which produced news features and took news feeds from reporters in the field, has also been eliminated.
Night-shift deejay Roy Daniels, who had joined the station before it switched from a polka-gospel-jazz-and-blues music format to strictly jazz and blues in 1983, received a layoff notice, as did the station’s concert production assistant, Lisa Dante.
Daniels was let go partly because he was drawing one of the highest salaries, General Manager Rick Lewis said. Scott Willis, who has filled in for vacationing disc jockeys, is taking over Daniels’ shift.
The cuts, which Daniels said came as a surprise, were announced two weeks ago and took effect immediately.
With the layoffs, the station will cut $200,000 from its $2.75-million budget, Lewis said. The layoffs reduce the full-time staff to 20 employees.
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