Idaho Radio News Etc.

Citadel has let go two of its on air staff in recent days. KKGL night guy Jason Drew and KZMG morning host Valentine are no longer with the company. Val was the longest serving member of the Magic staff – and will be replaced by Dan Tooker in early 2008. Valentine shifted to AM drive after Citadel let Brad and Tara go earlier this fall.

It’ll be interesting to see if the change at KKGL signals less of a commitment by Citadel to have jocks live in the evening.

After a day of closed-door meetings, KAWO/Wow Country 104.3 and morning man Panama Jack are parting ways, Idaho Radio News has learned. This is the second staff change on the KAWO morning show in the past two weeks – producer Brian Bird was cut from the Peak roster in November. The change is effective immediately.

Jack joined Peak Broadcasting this spring to head up Wow’s morning effort. He was hired when the former My Country 104.3 was rebranded and reworked as Wow Country just after Peak took over the frequency from Clear Channel Communications.

For now, Jack will be replaced in the morning drive by “The Outlaw” Don Jarrett, who will leave his afternoon post to take the early wake up call. He will team with Jack’s former partner Amber Lee.

Tarzan Dan will slide from mid-days to afternoons to cover the gap.

This is the fourth on-air cut at Peak Broadcasting in the last 14 days.

More talent changes at Peak Broadcasting Boise – as Brian “the Bird” exits KAWO/Wow Country 104.3. Brian started with KAWO as evening host before sliding into the AM show producer job. (He also did weekends on KTMY before the station was rebranded under the Wow Country name).

This is the third on-air staff cut at Peak in the past week.

A memo obtained by Idaho Radio News written by Peak Boise SVP Kevin Godwin says the decision to let go Melissa Dawn and Greg Williamson the day before Thanksgiving was made after “months of thought and consideration.” Godwin’s note says Dawn and Williamson are “both terrific people and this was a very difficult decision.” He also said that if “given the opportunity, would hope to have them back at Peak Broadcasting.”

KXLT’s morning show will remain in place, but the station will focus on “more music at work.” Wether this means voice trackers or no jocks at all is unknown.

Also: Along with the move to morning traffic anchor, Tobin Jeffries will no longer hold the title of program director for KXLT/107.9 Lite FM. Current KCIX/Mix 106 program director Brent Carey will take over that role, with Jeffries acting as assistant program director for Lite, as well as network operations manager for the traffic group.

Peak Broadcasting let two members of its on-air staff go Wednesday, according to reliable sources. Greg Williamson and Melissa Dawn Liebenthal were both let go by Peak from their jobs as utility players (both held down shifts on KXLT/107.9 Lite FM). Melissa has been with the company since way back since the Jacor days, while Williamson was on his second tour of duty with the cluster. Williamson also anchored morning traffic updates for the cluster – a job Tobin Jeffries will now step into. It is unclear how the rest of the KXLT broadcast day will shake out. The station went “all Christmas” on Friday as it does each year.