The ongoing iHeartMedia layoffs have seen the most significant elimination in one market as the News department of News/Talk 640 KFI Los Angeles were all dismissed from the company.
News Director Chris Little confirmed that the entire 22 person news department was let go on Monday, November 11. Little had been with KFI since 1991 first as a reporter and fill-in anchor before becoming News Director in 2000.
Update 11/12: Little updates stating that 13 were laid off, three asked to stay, and three not contacted by management. Four weekday anchors are still at the station.
KFI AM640 11/11/24 news layoff update: We had 25 staff members including me. 13 were laid off. Three were asked to stay. I haven't spoken to 2 others. Three have not been contacted by management. Four weekday anchors are still on the job.
— 🅲🅷🆁🅸🆂 🅻🅸🆃🆃🅻🅴 (@THEChrisLittle) November 12, 2024
Among other staffers noting their departures are anchors Jo Kwon and reporter Kris Adler. The station’s news team webpage lists ten anchors, four reporters, one correspondent, and six editors along with Little.
Rob Sanders 
Lance orozco 
Over 20 years ago, I was a freshman in college in Utah. And I would sit at my computer microphone and record myself saying, “Live from the KFI 24-hour news room…” (along with “KF-eye in the sky” and “KFI is the talk station with the most frequent traffic reports, present ed by your Southern California Lexus Dealer…”)
I knew the medium was in trouble. Being an elder Millenial, it was clear that the girls in the next building over were not impressed with my pirate FM transmitter. Napster was big. And the iPod would soon be bigger.
In my early days in radio, I imitated KFI’s attention-grabbing style and Mervin Block writing style. The only problem was I was at a classical station. And my newscasts were JARRING. News director wasn’t happy. PD probably should have pulled me off the air. I couldn’t help myself. I loved KFI’s style so much, I copied it. I would later be a talk producer and all-but ripped off the Handel on the News format for one of our hosts.
As a California resident, I’ve treated KFI like municipal tap water. Clean, fresh, and always there. In a bad jam? I punch up 640. Concerned about a protest downtown that’s getting out of hand? Grab the iHeart app and listen to Steve Gregory talking to Tim Conway Jr. The news division was accurate, punchy, and about as unbiased as a human-led team could be. And like tap water, I took it for granted. You don’t think about tap water until it’s gone.
KFI’s news department has been a life-altering figure in my life— and I’ve never once even stepped foot on the Burbank property.
Today’s layoffs (along with losing the PD yesterday) are like Edison saying they are shutting off the power. May we pray this is the end of the layoffs— and that a slew of talk host layoffs aren’t coming tomorrow.
To iHeart, Harvard Business School graduates, and the easy-credit morons who funded the station price bubble that’s ruined the industry these past two decades, a hearty middle finger from me.
Sincerely,
Rob Sanders
This is a sad commentary on how big companies fail to understand the importance of local news, and in general how to run radio stations.
KFI was something incredibly unique. It wasn’t just local talk, but a News Department which interacted with the talk show hosts to have intelligent, in depth coverage of news stories. The station was on top of big news events, and constantly broke major stories. No rip and read here! It had some of the best reporters in America, like Steve Gregory, who ironically just won a National Edward R. Murrow Award.
Program Director Robin Bertolucci and News Director Chris Little had the vision to put these pieces together in a way no one else was doing it. It was part commercial radio, and part NPR (I work for an NPR station).
And it worked! KFI was not only a top five radio station in LA for most of the last few years, it was the top ranked news station. And, they did the miracle of miracles without an FM signal. They actually lowered the age of the average listener!
KFI has some great talk show hosts, but doing what they do wiill be difficult without the feet on the street that supported them.
I hate to say it…but remember what happened with KGO slashed its News Department?
When will the bean counters understand that radio is dying because of the lack of localism? They are slashing the one thing which makes it relevant. If people want a jukebox, they can get Sirius XM without all the commercials.
It’s probably too late now (with dropping station values) but sell some stations, pay down debt, and invest in your product, instead of dismantling it piece by piece and making employees pay for poor management over the years.
As for the great KFI News team, be proud of what you accomplished for years. I hope folks got to take the boatloads of awards they won for quality journalism with them.