April 7, 2002

KTIP radio station loses local personalities

By Henry Winckel, The Porterville Recorder

PORTERVILLE -- A controversial talk show host was removed from a local radio station's lineup Wednesday after the station owner received complaints from community members, and two of the station's longtime radio personalities resigned.

"I've listened to the community, and I've made a response," KTIP owner Larry Stoneburner said of his decision to cancel the Tom Leykis show.

Leykis is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host. His off-color remarks were so offensive to KTIP hosts Neal Daybell and Brent Gill that they resigned Saturday.

For Daybell, who hosted a Saturday morning gardening show, it ended a 24-year relationship with station.

"I was pretty offended by their program content," Daybell said. "I felt that the morning show -- Hopper in the Morning -- was of questionable taste, and the afternoon show -- Tom Leykis -- was beyond questionable. It was rude, crude and pornographic. I left the station because I didn't care to be associated with it."

Gill expressed similar concerns.

"I am certainly no prude," he said, "but I could no longer abide the continual stream of sexual innuendo on the morning news, and most especially the obnoxious 'Tom Leykis Show.' "

Gill's affiliation with KTIP spanned more than 22 years as host of "Trader's Market," which went on the air in 1979, roughly a year after Daybell's "Good Gardening" premiered. It is basically, a "swap shop" or "yard sale" on the radio, Gill said.

"Two hundred and fifty calls was the biggest show I did by hand," he said. "The biggest on the computer was five hundred and something. It was just huge. Traders met a need of the community."

On any given Saturday, in a four-hour program, about 450 listings will be handled totaling $115,000 to $130,000, Gill said.

On Thursday, Gill commended Stoneburner for his decision to cancel the Leykis show.

"To reverse a former decision takes guts," he said. "They've started the job, but they're only half done. I stand ready to return to the air, if they would like me back, when the job is finished."

Kent Hopper, host of "Hopper in the Morning," said he was surprised by the comparison of his program to the Leykis show.

"It's true there is some blue humor, but my show is primarily fun-filled, energetic entertainment," Hopper said. "To group Hopper in the Morning with Tom Leykis is totally absurd."

Hopper is celebrating his one-year anniversary with KTIP. He said he'd heard no complaints about his show until recently.

He said that KTIP has been looking to extend its audience beyond the perimeter of Porterville, and its efforts have proven successful.

"We find that the majority of Tulare County enjoys the morning show," he said. "From phone calls and e-mails we get, it's been the fastest growing part of the radio station in the past seven to 10 years."

Mike Haskins, a former KTIP broadcaster, who grew up listening to the station, said his children will unfortunately not share that experience.

Haskins was listening to KTIP while driving his 3- and 5-year-olds to school. An unexpected off-color remark had him lurching to change the radio dial.

"KTIP was on in my house every morning when I was a boy, so I didn't expect to hear that kind of language," he said. "It's not that what they're doing is wrong, but it's wrong for this community. And it's sad."

Butch Schwartzenberger, owner of Personal Auto Care, said the radios in his shop are tuned to KTIP throughout the day.

He said he appreciates the station's more upbeat format.

"The morning shows during the week used to be so dull and drab," he said. "It's nice to hear these new, young people with their enthusiasm. People have to realize this is entertainment. If I want to mold my character, I go to church."

Despite listeners like Schwartzenberger, Stoneburner acknowledged he has lost advertisers over his choice of programming.

His intent, he said, was to stimulate thinking.

"Talk radio is intended to make you think and interact with the topic, and I think that's good for everybody," he said. "But the Tom Leykis Show might not have been the appropriate show to provide that stimulation."

Monte Moore, former KTIP owner for 18 years, said he tried to warn Stoneburner that shock-jock programs would not play well in Porterville.

"I told him he was making a huge mistake," Moore said. "There never would have been anything like that on the radio station when I owned it, and I disagree with them having that kind of programming on the station in this community. This a church-going community."

Moore said he respects the Stoneburners as owners and respects their prerogative to put what they want on the air.

Stoneburner and his wife, Mimi, have owned the station for about 18 months.

Moore said he was saddened by the departures of Daybell and Gill, whose shows he started decades ago.

"I think the community is losing a tradition," he said. "They were both so good at what they did."

Stoneburner said he too valued Gill's and Daybell's years of service and accepted their resignations with regret.

He said Daybell's 7 to 8 a.m. Saturday slot will be filled by Kim Kommando, a computer problem solver.

"Trader's Market" will air from 12:30 to 1 p.m. on weekdays and from 8 a.m.to 12 p.m. Saturdays, with rotating hosts until a permanent host is found.