Normally when there's a big bloodletting at a radio station, the survivors stay quiet.
That didn't happen during the gutting of the KFI newsroom.
While the axe was dropping on dozens of employees, the two on-air hosts, Shannon Farren and Gary Hoffman, went on the air and told the audience what was going on. And they didn't hold back.
“I’ve never worked at a place where this much bloodletting at once," noted Farren. "I’m probably gonna get in trouble for this, but I just can’t do a show and not talk about what’s going on. That’s just not who we are.”
“That is the weird thing about it, is that we’re in this room, we’re here, but in that hallway that’s 10 feet away from us, there are people carrying boxes out,” co-host Gary Hoffman said. “Maybe it means it’s an opportunity for us to be thankful for the next 45 seconds of job that we have. That is the uncomfortable part of it. Or one of the many uncomfortable parts.”
“It’s really hard to continue to talk about news...when people’s lives are being upended as we speak. It’s awful,” Farren concluded.
Gutsy but honest with their audience, and good for them.
Shannon Farren During Cuts to KFI-AM 640 Newsroom: ‘I Can’t Do A Show and Not Talk About What’s Going On'