Frosty and Frank Regroup With Heidi on KLSX

For the past three hours, new KLSX-FM (97.1) afternoon radio hosts Frosty Stilwell (the relatable dweeb), Frank Kramer (the crude frat boy) and Heidi Hamilton (the sexually ambiguous babe) have been mocking Anna Nicole Smith and her $449-million windfall. It never occurs to them that Smith’s story--that of a rising star who comes to Hollywood only to be snubbed by the same town that once promised fame and fortune--in some ways mirrors their own shaky experiences here.

Late last summer, Stilwell and Kramer had no reason to believe the rumors circulating through the offices of KYSR-FM (98.7), known as Star 98.7. That the male voices of Star’s increasingly popular “Jamie, Frosty and Frank” morning show would be replaced by a former child star whose troubles with drugs and more had played across the tabloids sounded like one of the outrageous topics they might discuss on air. Still, there were signs.

That child star, Danny Bonaduce, had already filled in as a host while Stilwell was recovering from massive liposuction. But as they look back, perhaps the most telling sign occurred the instant Stilwell, Kramer and their longtime co-host Jamie White uprooted themselves from their cozy Denver home base at KALC-FM in February 1998 to accept a lucrative job offer in the desirable Los Angeles market.

Upon their arrival here, the trio was informed that the show’s title was being modified to highlight White (it had previously been known as “Frosty, Frank and Jamie,” then “Frosty, Jamie and Frank”).

“We had been basically equal in Denver,” says Stilwell, “and I think when we moved to L.A. the company intended to center the show more on Jamie.”

Star’s then- and current general manager, Ken Christensen, doesn’t deny the allegation. “We have a female-targeted radio station,” explains Christensen. “And there really wasn’t a radio show in Los Angeles with a female lead. Our attempt to differentiate this show . . . was to highlight her.”

White, who’d first partnered with the men back in August ‘94, is known for freely sharing outrageous true-life tales of her troubled marriage and more--titillating topics that increasingly became the focal point of the show. Even the long-held tradition of Stilwell closing each broadcast with a long list of apologies was altered to allow Kramer and White to participate in the endless list of “I’m sorries. . . .”

But Kramer and Stilwell claim there was no “I’m sorry” from White the day they wrapped the show on Monday, Sept. 13, 1999.

“We were fired the minute the show was over,” says Stilwell. “Later, we found out the talks about pairing Jamie and Danny had been going on for [a while]. And we never even had a chance to say goodbye to our audience.”

Christensen defends that decision. “The role of the general manager is to protect the radio station, and any employees who won’t be there could potentially say or do something on the air that could put the license in jeopardy,” says Christensen, who believes the move has already paid off. “At the time, the old show with adults 25 to 54 was somewhere around a 3 [share of the market]. Now it’s in the mid-3’s and in the next rating period it could be in the real high 3’s.”

Though White declined to comment for this story (she does, however, wish her former partners well), Christensen says his employee was merely protecting her interests: “She felt very nervous that she was going to be paired with a man she’d never worked with before. Her motivation was to create some kind of contractual security for herself.”

The day after Stilwell and Kramer’s dismissal, Star aired a “best of” broadcast. On Wednesday, White went solo. Then on Thursday, to the shock of many fans, White was joined by new co-host Bonaduce with little explanation offered to listeners about the missing players. Recalls Hamilton (the show’s then-”traffic girl”): “For a solid two weeks, the majority of the phone calls were, ‘What’s the deal? Where are Frosty and Frank?’ ”

A Tense Aftermath

Stilwell never spoke to White again after their final show, though he says he received a message from her on his answering machine. Kramer had only one brief encounter with White the following day, when he returned to the station to collect his personal belongings.

Remaining with the program for an additional three months was Hamilton, who was becoming an increasingly familiar and popular presence with listeners. But after her friends’ dismissals, the 27-year-old Hamilton says her job ceased being fun, prompting her to resign in December, with no other prospects lined up. “I found myself being really bitter every day, and I’d always promised myself if I ever dreaded going to work, I would get out,” she says.

Though they were without work, Stilwell and Kramer continued receiving paychecks per the terms of their contracts. “But we were effectively silenced,” says Stilwell. “We could not work in broadcasting until our contract ended. We couldn’t give interviews. We couldn’t tell our side of the story. We couldn’t say anything to anybody.”

While riding out their contracts, Kramer and Stilwell, who fostered a friendship on the campus of Indiana University in the late ‘80s, have been lying low. Stilwell enrolled in an acting class with Hamilton, who made a living recording voice-overs and hosting a syndicated country music radio show. Kramer took up scuba diving and got his Screen Actors Guild card--enjoying moderate success playing paramedics in both “Charmed” and in last season’s “ER” finale. But all three were counting the days until they could return to the FM dial. “To me, my career is everything,” says Stilwell. “To be shut out of the industry for a year was very, very difficult.”

Welcomed Back to the Air

In June, Stilwell and Kramer settled their contracts with Star and were immediately summoned by KLSX for two summertime test shows, both broadcast on Sunday mornings from 3-5 a.m., with Hamilton on board as their new co-host.

Now, with new long-term contracts, Stilwell, Kramer and Hamilton are back in the booth sandwiched comfortably between Howard Stern and Tom Leykis, in a new show with a very familiar-sounding title: “Frosty, Heidi and Frank.”

“I’m still last,” moans Kramer, who campaigned heavily for Hamilton to join the team.

In the sound booth, the threesome already appear comfortable with one another, as well as their new home, which they feel is more conducive to their humor. “At Star we were going for women 18 to 34; now we’re going for guys just like me,” says the 30-year-old Kramer.

Many of the topics will be familiar to fans of the old show--Frosty’s weight, Frank’s pot smoking and agnosticism, and Frosty and Heidi’s ambiguous sexual orientations. “Let ‘em guess,” is all Stilwell will say on that. Also remaining a mystery are the threesome’s real names--with “Frosty,” “Kramer” and “Hamilton” all pseudonyms. Even the name of Kramer’s wife, “Beatrice” (a familiar character to listeners), is phony.

What the team promises will be real is their genuine affection for their listeners, a trait not always apparent in their previous format. “There was a viciousness and a self-centeredness that crept into our previous show,” says Stilwell. “ ‘All in the Family’ would not have been the smash hit it was if there had been two Archie Bunkers. With Frank and Heidi and me, we have a balance. . . . Add all that together, and this becomes a very dangerous show.”

* “Frosty, Heidi and Frank” can be heard weekdays on KLSX-FM (97.1) from noon to 3 p.m.