KREI, KTJJ employees ‘terminated’ without notice
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Employees of radio stations KREI and KTJJ were terminated without notice Tuesday morning. Both stations will move to a new, non-local format starting Wednesday. Photo courtesy of the Park Hills-Leadington Chamber of Commerce
Both stations will remain on the air but with no local programming
The media landscape has been hit with a seismic shock that will have a major and long-lasting impact on the local coverage of news, weather, and community events in the Parkland.
Alpha Media, the company that owns local radio stations KREI and KTJJ informed its employees on Tuesday morning that they—along with its Festus affiliate—had been terminated.
“I was told that starting tomorrow morning that there will be different programming on, and there will be no local news, no local sports, and no local weather,” said long-time radio personality and St. Francois County Auditor Louie Seiberlich. “We were all told at different times, so none of us ran into each other. We had no idea. no community stuff at all. No high school football, nothing.”
Seiberlich recalled his long career in local radio, along with fellow radio personality Mark Toti.
“KTJJ went on the air in July of 1977, and I joined them in August of that year,” he said. “And then I left in the 80s, but I’ve been back over 25 years. Mark Toti’s been there 40 years. We were let go unceremoniously without any warning. I feel for the staff who were terminated on the spot, but more importantly, I feel for the community because, like newspaper, radio is the medium to provide that service, whether it’s who shot John, when is John going to be buried, and when is a guy who shot John going to go to jail?
“You know, you take away the personal aspect, the joy of broadcasting Country Days or a blood drive or having to report the unfortunate stuff like a tornado or a flood or something like that. KREI has been there over 75 years, and KTJJ has been there almost 50 years. So, the people that have supported the community—the sponsors, the businesses—have struggled yet helped keep business going. The losers in all of this are the listeners, the businessperson, the average person who wants to know what the weather is going to be or when their kid is going to play their baseball game, that sort of thing.”
In response to his termination, Toti said, “I will look back on the people I have worked with and the community with a great deal of satisfaction and enjoyment. I’m sorry it ended the way it did, but I’m looking forward to better things down the road.”
KFMO, B104 and Froggy 95.9 are locally owned and not affected by the change.
Tag: Kevin R. Jenkins is the editor of the Daily Journal. He can be reached at kjenkins@dailyjournalonline.com.
