As KROQ gets ready to hold the 35th edition of its “Almost Acoustic Christmas” concert event next month, the “world famous” alternative rock station has even more reason to celebrate: Not only did the station hit its best ratings in September since Summer 2004, but KROQ is once again a force in Los Angeles morning drive radio.
Variety noted last year that KROQ has been on a comeback ever since the returns of longtime program director Kevin Weatherly in June 2022 and former morning show host Kevin Ryder, who was given the afternoon drive-time slot in April 2025. But the rebirth of KROQ can also be attributed to the massive growth of “Klein.Ally.Show” in the mornings, which has seen a remarkable rise, particularly over the past year.
As KROQ gets ready to hold the 35th edition of its “Almost Acoustic Christmas” concert event next month, the “world famous” alternative rock station has even more reason to celebrate: Not only did the station hit its best ratings in September since Summer 2004, but KROQ is once again a force in Los Angeles morning drive radio.
Variety noted last year that KROQ has been on a comeback ever since the returns of longtime program director Kevin Weatherly in June 2022 and former morning show host Kevin Ryder, who was given the afternoon drive-time slot in April 2025. But the rebirth of KROQ can also be attributed to the massive growth of “Klein.Ally.Show” in the mornings, which has seen a remarkable rise, particularly over the past year.
Meanwhile, this September in L.A. morning drive, hosts Kevin Klein and Ally Johnson were No. 1 in all major demos: 18-34 (10.8 share), 18-49 (9.9 share) and 25-54 (9.4). In 25-54, the show has been tops for six out of ten months so far this year. In October, the show dipped to No. 2 in 25-54, as it continues to battle it out with competitor “The Woody Show” on rival KYSR (“Alt 98.7”). “The Woody Show,” which regained the No. 1 slot in the demo this October, has nonetheless seen its once-hefty advantage over KROQ evaporate as the two duke it out. (“The Woody Show” didn’t do itself any favors by switching out a few of its longtime players, including Renae Ravey, which upset some listeners.)
“This just shows that KROQ, in Southern California, people have a really strong relationship with the station,” Weatherly says. “That can be positive or negative. When you break that trust, they can get really pissed. But you can build it back over time if you have a good morning show and good personalities.”
As recently as a year and a half ago, KROQ’s “Klein/Ally Show” was still slogging through morning drive. Throughout 2024 and the first half of 2025, the show was consistently hovering between 10th and 18th place in Los Angeles’ radio ratings among the key adults 25-54 demo, mirroring the massive declines that KROQ had faced after making some terribly misguided decisions (including changing up its music mix and firing Ryder) at the start of the pandemic in 2020.
Klein (first with Ted Stryker and then along with Ally) was tasked with taking over morning drive after Ryder was let go — and had to bear the brunt of angry KROQ fans for several years. It was a move made by previous management that was made harder by happening right at the start of COVID, when listeners desired the comfort of familiar voices.
“We were put in a bad spot, and we had to really fight to do the type of show we wanted,” Klein says. “There were a lot of meetings we had where we were literally interviewing our replacements. It sounded they were going to add another person to our show, but we could tell what was happening: they were ready to punt. We really did fear that any day our job was going to be stripped from us.”
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