2 Twin Cities morning show radio personalities laid off
Two well known on-air personalities at the iHeartMedia radio cluster in the Twin Cities were victims of apparent cost cutting on Monday.
Steve "Steve-O" LaTart, who has spent the better part of two decades as Dave Ryan's executive producer on KWDB's morning show, was laid off, as was Cities 97.1 morning show host Hunter Quinn.
LaTart announced on Facebook that he found out that his longtime career with the music station was over while he was at Home Depot.
"Where were you when you found out you were being laid off? I was in the parking lot at Home Depot. I gave my time, energy, ideas and effort to something and today they decided I was no longer needed. Goodbye," LaTart posted.
Quinn tweeted: "Very tough day today. It was my last day at Cities 97.1. I had such high hopes coming to the Twin Cities and hosting a morning show, but so many things have changed and my hard work, creativity and ideas are no longer required."
He added that "It was numbing to hear the script while being let go."
In January, multiple on-air personalities were laid off in a round of job cuts at the iHeartMedia Twin Cities cluster, which includes KDWB, Cities 97.1, KFAN, KOOL 108, K102 and KTLK.
Radio is among the media platforms that have been rocked by the coronavirus pandemic, though has long suffered since the digital age of streaming began competing with terrestrial radio.
The majority of the on-air staff at SKOR North, the Hubbard Broadcasting-owned sports station, during the spring, while the Pohlad-owned Go 96.3 radio station's morning show team of Ben Holsen and Dana Wessel was laid off in July.
