‘John & Ken’ Depart KFI, Look Headed for KABC Morning Slot

Without bidding farewell to their listeners, John Kobylt and Ken Chiampou, hosts of the afternoon show on talk station KFI-AM (640) for more than six years, did their last broadcast at the station on Friday.

The irreverent pair, better known simply as “John & Ken,” are expected to join rival KABC-AM (790) beginning this summer to fill the key morning drive slot. Since Ken Minyard and Peter Tilden were dismissed last November, the station has been using fill-in hosts from 5 to 9 a.m.

“We have agreed in principle to a deal,” a high-placed KABC executive said Sunday. He said that while Kobylt and Chiampou are under contract at KFI through Sept. 30, “what we are discussing has them potentially starting in July.”

Neither Kobylt nor Chiampou could be reached for comment.

The KABC official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Chiampou and Kobylt would give up syndication of their afternoon show, which is currently heard in more than 100 markets.

It apparently was syndication of the “John & Ken Show” that became a sticking issue at KFI, the Los Angeles-Orange County market’s top-rated talk station.

“We want a live local talk show in the afternoon, and we didn’t want to be in the way of their syndication,” said KFI program director David G. Hall. “We want a show that is really about Southern California.”

Hall declined to say who would take over the 3-7 p.m. slot at KFI.