L.A. Exec Leaves Clear Channel

Roy Laughlin, the high-profile vice president of Clear Channel Los Angeles and the general manager of top 40 powerhouse KIIS-FM (102.7), has parted ways with the nation’s dominant radio company.

The abrupt split prompted speculation that despite Laughlin’s many successes in Southern California, the maverick executive may have clashed once too often with his corporate bosses in San Antonio.

As recently as a week ago, Laughlin was actively discussing long-range press coverage for upcoming Clear Channel events. On Thursday, Laughlin would say only that he has left behind his boardroom titles.

“I’m not there anymore,” he said, declining to comment on the factors that led to his departure from Clear Channel’s Burbank offices, where he has been part of the KIIS hierarchy for more than a decade. Laughlin acknowledged, however, that he had made his mark in the mercurial radio business by running counter to conventions and corporate mind-sets.

With more than 1,200 stations in the United States, Clear Channel Communications Inc. is a corporation not known for its flamboyance. If anything, the company’s leadership has been chided by music industry veterans as a deeply conservative presence in a sector that likes to define itself by its rebel roots and show-biz looseness.

In the most recent Arbitron ratings for Los Angeles, three of the company’s stations -- KFI-AM (640), KIIS and KOST-FM (103.5) -- finished second, fourth and tied for sixth in the market, respectively. Its other holdings locally are STAR-FM (98.7), KBIG-FM (104.3), KHHT-FM (92.3), KLAC-AM (690) and KTLK-AM (1150).

Greg Ashlock, who shared the title of regional co-vice president with Laughlin, has assumed all regional duties. Ashlock did not return calls Thursday. A new general manager for KIIS is expected to be named shortly.

Clear Channel regional senior vice president, Charlie Riley, was traveling Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

Laughlin is a colorful, Louisiana-born executive who showed a knack for promoting his stations and himself. Known for his playful sense of humor, he liked to say his goal for KIIS was that it capture and reflect the interests of a 19-year-old girl.

He often boasted that no song could reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts unless his station was spinning it for listeners.

“You can reach No. 2 in the nation without us,” Laughlin told the Los Angeles Times last year, “but that’s as far as you can get.”

Married to KIIS radio personality Ellen K, he too became known to listeners after station disc jockey Valentine began lampooning him on the air.

Laughlin has been a creative risk taker. He was a key player in the growth of Wango Tango, the KIIS concert series that in May drew a capacity crowd to the Rose Bowl for acts such as Maroon 5, Janet Jackson, Hilary Duff and the stars of TV’s “American Idol.”

Laughlin was also part of the team that decided in February 2004 to replace longtime KIIS morning-show host Rick Dees with Ryan Seacrest, a move that capitalized on Seacrest’s burgeoning celebrity as “Idol” host.

Laughlin helped forge Clear Channel’s unusual ad-sales partnership with Entravision Communications Corp., persuading that primarily Spanish-language broadcaster to experiment with a progressive rock format on Indie 103.1 (KDLE/KDLM-FM).

The relaunched station, which Rolling Stone magazine has called the “coolest station in America,” celebrated its first birthday in January. Clear Channel last month learned it would have to leave the partnership because of a shift in federal regulatory definitions of broadcasting market caps.