How KROQ Became World Famous Again: Two Kevins, a Return to Rock and a Lot of Patience for Its New Morning Show

Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Carolla are among the producers who have spent years crafting a multi-part docuseries chronicling the history of influential Los Angeles alternative radio station KROQ — and five years ago, they seemed to have a proper (albeit, depressing) ending to the story. As reported at the time by Variety, the once-“world famous” KROQ had collapsed in both ratings and reputation as the station lost its two-time Hall of Fame morning show “Kevin & Bean,” while simultaneously blowing up its familiar playlist. “It’s the End of the World Famous KROQ As We Know It,” the Variety headline read.

And yet, five years later, there appears to be a bit of a recovery happening at the legendary radio outlet. In October, KROQ posted a 5.8 share in its key adults 25-54 demo — making it No. 2 in Los Angeles, the nation’s second-largest marrket. That’s quite a change from even just a year ago, when the station was still pulling a fairly tepid 2.6 share (No. 16 in the market).

KROQ is also experiencing a tremendous boost in the mornings, where the “Klein.Ally.Show” hit its best-ever numbers last month — after having struggled to gain traction during its first four years on air.

“We have a great frickin’ story here,” says KROQ senior VP of programming Kevin Weatherly. “It was dark times at this station. Many people thought would never come back. A lot of people thought KROQ was dead, and it was dead to a lot of our listeners. But now here we are, five years later. Not only have we come back from that, but we’re back bigger in terms of ratings success, than we’ve been in 15-plus years.”

Per KROQ’s monthly ratings trends, that rebirth really took off this past spring — and it’s probably not a coincidence that the listenership skyrocketed after the return of ex-morning host Kevin Ryder. With his former “Kevin & Bean” partner Gene “Bean” Baxter, Ryder spent 30 years at KROQ until March 2020 — when he and co-hosts Allie Mac Kay and Jensen Karp (Baxter had departed in November 2019) were fired over the phone during the pandemic.

Ryder returned to the KROQ in afternoon drive this past April 1, a little over five years after being axed — and soon after, another KROQ vet, Doug “Sluggo” Roberts, also returned to the station for regular shifts after a long absence. (During that time away, Ryder and Roberts hosted an afternoon show together on L.A. classic rock outlet KLOS.)

“I think Kevin Ryder coming back had the halo effect of really benefiting the radio station from a ratings standpoint,” Weatherly says. “Because it did give people permission that were pissed off, that didn’t want anything to do with KROQ, to go, ‘OK, if he’s coming back, it’s cool for us too.’”

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