"Hear" today and gone tomorrow. That's probably an accurate adage for disc jockeys, whose jobs can be very limited at a single station.
The cleanout of DJs at KOSY (FM-106.5) last week is the latest evidence. Gone is the morning show, Kelly Monson and Erica Hansen, and perhaps others.
For Monson, this departure was expected. He was already headed back to his previous station, KBZN (FM-97.9), where he started, after about 7 1/2 months at FM-106.5.
However, Hansen's dismissal was a big surprise. She'd been at KOSY for about five years and is one of the best female co-hosts in the market. Why let her go?
Scott Fisher was doing some fill-in duty for the mornings this week on KOSY, as the station seeks a permanent host or hosts. Perhaps Clear Channel should have tried Fisher and Hansen, on a trial basis, to see how well they would do together before getting rid of Hansen.
The bigger question is, what's going on at the Salt Lake Clear Channel cluster of stations? Except for KNRS (AM-570) and KZHT (FM-97.1), I don't think the other Clear Channel stations in the Salt Lake market are up to their potential.
The dismissals at KOSY echo the same kind of scenario as when sister station KODJ (FM-94.1) let its morning show of Dickie and Angel Shannon go earlier this year.
Rumors suggest the Clear Channel Broadcasting building in West Valley City is looking pretty empty of people these days.
I could be wrong, but all I see from these changes at KOSY is the start of another mediocre FM-105.7, underpromoted and underfunded.
KSL (AM-1160/FM-102.7) has made some recent changes. There are some new jingles and more newscasts.
According to KSL news and program director Kevin LaRue, the station has added newscasts during Sean Hannity's and Doug Wright's shows, at the bottom and top of every hour. That's 12 additional newscasts, a combination of local and national news.
Also, a Dallas-based composer has been working on KSL's new imaging package since last spring.
And how is the "Nightside Project" doing on KSL? LaRue reports that the show has doubled its ratings in the younger, 18-49 age group it has been targeting. Nightside also finished No. 1 in the age 25-54 group of the spring book.
"Nightside" also now airs on Bonneville station WTWP in Washington, D.C., on a tape-delayed basis. And it will son be added to KIRO in Seattle and KTAR in Phoenix, also Bonneville affiliates. And there are national syndication discussions with various distributors, so it appears KSL's gamble is paying off.
I'm in the wrong age group to fully understand host Michael Castner and his team at "Nightside," but I do love the local, live presence on any Salt Lake station in the evening.
RADIO HAPPENINGS — OK, so Tom Barberi isn't coming back to local radio after all, but I'm pretty sure I heard his voice work on at least one local TV commercial last week.
—If you are a fan of "Steve-O" (Carlson), he's doing some fill-in duty this week for Mark Van Wagoner mornings on KDYL (AM-1280).
—KZHT had an unusual contest last week. It took 40 keys — one of them to a Legacy Mazda — and had them frozen in 400 pounds of ice. Contest qualifiers had to wait for a meltdown and hope the key they got would start the new car, which would make them the vehicle's owner.
—KBYU (FM-89.1) will broadcast Handel's oratorio, "The Triumph of Time and Enlightenment," on Sunday, Aug. 26, 2 p.m. (www.classical89.org).
E-mail: lynn@desnews.com