KLOS Rolls Out "Heidi & Frank"

The billboards have started popping up all over town for "The Heidi & Frank Show," KLOS-FM's new morning drive time program hosted by Heidi Hamilton and Frank Kramer. Hamilton and Kramer are familiar to L.A. radio listeners from their stints (with Frosty Stilwell) on the old 97.1 FM Talk station and for their brief stint on KABC-AM. More recently, the duo (minus Stilwell) have gone the podcast route. But with the end of the 25+ year run of KLOS' "Mark & Brian Show," KLOS decided to bring Heidi and Frank back to radio.

The duo recently spoke to the L.A. Times:

"We're the new couple who moved in, and we're bringing by the bottle of wine and the six-pack, and we're making that neighborhood as friendly as it used to be," Kramer said. "We understand they've been sharing their life with Mark and Brian for a very, very long time. They're family. But we will do our best to embrace them, if they'll embrace us."

Hamilton added, "We're there to make the day go by a little faster. We're all about having fun and not taking ourselves too seriously, and everybody is welcome."

"It's hard to follow a show like 'Mark & Brian,'" said John Dickey, chief operating officer of Cumulus Media, the radio chain that owns KLOS. He said Hamilton and Kramer "have their own style; they're not trying to be Mark and Brian. They can appeal to a broader and, in some ways, younger demographic."

Have you listened yet? Any early reviews?

Meanwhile, speaking of billboards, you've probably seen those CBS signs around town touting their investment in the Los Angeles economy. The L.A. Times' Joe Flint has the backstory on what those billboards are truly for. Read it here.

Last Day for Mark and Brian, as Both Exit KLOS

It was supposed to be just Mark Thompson's last day on KLOS-FM 995.5) as one half of the long-running morning radio duo "Mark & Brian" -- but midway through Friday's show, Brian Phelps announced that he, too, was leaving the station. Phelps had been expected to remain, but with a new partner. As the L.A. Times writes, it wasn't meant to be:

Phelps had been in talks with the station's parent company, Cumulus Media Inc., but said he broke those off Thursday when the sides hadn't come to terms. He announced during the farewell morning show that instead he's launching a podcast with actress and comedian Jill Whelan, known from "Airplane!" and "The Love Boat." She also recently hosted a radio talk show on WPHT-AM (1210) in Philadelphia.

"She's hilarious. We've known each other for years. We're comedy soul mates," Phelps told listeners. He said he and Whelan had already agreed to do the podcast, even before talks with KLOS fell through.

"I just felt it was time to stop," Phelps said. "I want to take a year. And I want to kind of recharge. I might return. I don't know. But for now, I want to leave and go have fun on a podcast with my dear friend Jill."

The new "Brian and Jill Show" will be found here, while Thompson's new podcast, which he'll be hosting with his wife Lynda, will be located here.

So what's to come of KLOS? Some radio observers are speculating online that Cumulus will either turn KLOS into an all-talk KABC-FM simulcast of its low-rated AM signal, or else sign on to be a member of the CBS Sports Radio network. The Orange County Register's Gary Lycan is hearing other ideas:

Inside sources indicated KLOS (and owner Cumulus) were caught off-guard by Phelps on-air announcement. Insiders said possible replacements include "The Heidi and Frank Show," "The Regular Guys" from Atlanta, or a music intensive morning show, similar to what Kennedy is doing on KSYR.

Mark & Brian To Depart KLOS After 25 Years

LARadio.com's Don Barrett has the skinny on the end of Mark & Brian, the duo that has been waking up KLOS-FM listeners since September 1987. Don's site is password-protected, so here's a summary from Radio-Info:

Hard to believe it’s been 27 years since WAPI, Birmingham PD Mark St. John connected DJ Thompson and improv comedian Brian Phelps, and coming up on 25 years since they invaded rock KLOS, Los Angeles in September 1987. They’ve had a TV show, won a Marconi, been syndicated on the west coast, and gotten a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. But a couple of years ago (according to Don Barrett’s LARadio.com), Thompson’s wife noted that she’d been cancer-free for a number of years and that “all those things we’ve talked about that we want to do…I want to do them.” Long story short, they’re happily living on Lake Norman, outside Charlotte, when Mark’s not staying at L’Ermitage Hotel, near the KLOS studios. His last “Mark and Brian Show” will be August 17. What happens then? Thompson tells Don Barrett that Phelps would like to continue in mornings at the Cumulus classic rocker, and says "they are interested in keeping him and [are] moving toward doing that."

You may also remember Mark & Brian hosted an ill-fated TV show on NBC: