Claire Day leaves KXLT
Don @ IdahoRadioNews | July 20, 2009
And then there were… none. KXLT/107.9 Lite FM morning host (and sole personality) Claire Day is leaving Peak Broadcasting.
Day is finishing her second tour of duty with the Peak/Clear Channel cluster of stations — having previously left in 2003. This time she’s leaving radio for a gig with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office as a dispatcher.
Peak has already posted a PT traffic job (see below), but it is unclear what the plan is for her KXLT shift.
Claire Day’s last day is this Friday.
Shiftsssss you mean. :)
Claire is really an amazing person. I hate to leave the same post for everyone who leaves, but I do really think Tommy and Claire are two really amazing and talented people. Good luck Claire!
OOOOOOOHHHHHH a job with benefits AND a decent salary! Good move!
I did mornings with Claire for a year and change. What I remember more than anything was laughing a lot, both on and off the air. I have no idea what listeners thought, but we cracked each other up.
My favorite Claire story: She had a company cell phone with walkie-talkie capabilities. We had just gotten into the station van when the sound of a loud beep followed by Kevin Godwin saying “Claire?” filled the air. Claire looked in the general direction of the dashboard and with a confused expression answered, “Yes?”. I told her I was pretty sure the voice was coming from her purse, not the air vents. While fumbling for her still-beeping phone, she was instructed by an increasingly impatient KG to “push the button on the side and talk, Claire!” Apparently she was under the impression that Lee Eichelberger had installed some kind of Knight Rider communications system in the Lite FM van. No, it was just somebody learning how to use Nextel Direct Connect while her partner thanked her for some prime morning show material. Good times.
Claire is one my best and most dearest friends and someone I highly respect on a professional and personal level. Since the days we worked together at Boise Traffic I have come to feed off her momentum and zest for life. After a looooooooooong process, she and I worked hard together, with the help of Kevin Murphy (see above) to position Claire where she would succeed and excel in radio broadcasting. Claire has the talent and skill to program radio and REALLY connect with listeners, a job I was hoping she would land in short order especially with the resources and guidance of corporate radio. But, another missed opportunity. Treasure Valley Radio has lost a strong and powerful talent and radio professional. It is a shame that circumstances are not allowing her to shine. Claire is a fun, no-non sense, hard working, I-call-’em-as-I-see-’em. She has done what she does best, take matters into her own hands and create something for herself. KUDOS TO YOU LUV.
Kevin M, that’s great stuff Carrot Puff! Claire has also been one of my favorite people to work with over the years. When Mike, Kate, Claire and I were all together on Mix, there was an amazing dynamic…especially considering we couldn’t all see each other. I was in another studio and she was doing traffic from the ACHD site at that time. She had such a quick wit, a natural way with sarcasm and a perfectly placed funny line, that I always looked forward to working with her directly when filling in for M & K. One of the best moments was when Kasper made a joke about “where can you buy Fallopian tubing?” Claire didn’t catch the reference to her own female plumbing and couldn’t understand why we thought that was so funny. “Don’t people from the Phillipines speak Fallopean.” “Claire, are you thinking Filipino?” “Oh…………………….yeah!”
Tobin, Melissa, Steve and Jim can probably testify, we first saw her shine at the CMN Radiothon from the mall. (‘98 or ‘99?) She sounded like she’d been doing live broadcasts for years, and not just a quick song intro, or a break into a stopset. She held her own against the veterans tossing back and forth pleas for donations, recapping dollar totals, and interviewing kids who had recovered from, and were still dealing with cancer. She earned a lot of respect from a lot of people. I wish you all the best Mofo! ;-)
Are you sure you’re talking about THE Claire Day? I read then re-read those posts and am just flooded with pride and happiness. Thanks to Jac, Kevin, Tobin, and Tommy for posting the nicest things I have ever read, I don’t know how I got so lucky to have worked with such a talented pool of people, but thank goodness I did, you made radio a lot easier and certainly more rewarding! This is my tenth year in broadcasting and my third time leaving…although each time I left, I didn’t leave radio, I left traffic reporting. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being a Traffic Reporter, but after 8 1/2 years of reporting on the roads in the valley, I am done. It’s surreal this time around, as I know I am going to a great job with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office where I have heard the culture is amazing. I am looking forward to being part of a team again, as many of you already know; I was the sole personality on Lite FM. In the building it was called Claire FM. Well, after 9 tomorrow morning, “Claire FM” will no longer exist.
Prepare yourself for what sounds like an award acceptance speech…Thanks to everyone who has believed in and supported me. I have learned so much over the years and it all started with my dad who once told me to “never ever get into radio” a few months before he hired me at Boise Traffic. Back then I was”Elaine Weaver” and “Cheryl your Arrow Traffic Babe.” Thanks to Mitch Pruitte for hiring me as a board-op to run high school legion baseball games. Thanks to Hoss Grigg for allowing me to voice track weekends on Kiss FM and even allow some live shifts after much begging. I have had the pleasure to work with great talent over the years including Tracy and Margo, Big Jack, Bryan Gregory, Melissa Dawn, Tom Collins, Mike and Kate, Jon and Chris, Dave and Brian, Hoss, Smooch, Tobin Jeffries, Robin Scott, Bill Lee, Bo Bennett, Ken Bass, Jim Smith, Kyle Safely, Bob Richards, Chris Adams, Jodi Sali, G-Dub, Hooker and Chad, Kevin Murphy, and I am know there are many more. The music has been cued and my time is running out…THANK YOU :)