In the January 16 blog "Meet Jeff Wilks, New Owner of The Wolf, The Mix and KOOL 105," Wilks Broadcasting head Jeff Wilks said that there would be changes at the aforementioned three stations, which his firm recently purchased from CBS, but "they'll all be to the good." Of course, that's a subjective judgment, and it's doubtful that those who were reportedly laid off at the outlets late last week would agree with it.
At this writing, Wilks has not responded to an interview request; when and if he or another Wilks representative does so, look for an update in this space. In the meantime, online reports say that Bill Gamble, the program director of The Mix and KOOL 105, is out, as is The Wolf's Tim Dunbar.
The news about Gamble comes courtesy of AllAccess.com, a site specializing in radio and music news. Its report reads as follows:
ALL ACCESS has learned that WILKS BROADCASTING made some personnel changes on FRIDAY (1/30), at newly-acquired Hot AC KIMN (MIX 100), KXKO (KOOL 105) [note: KOOL's actual call letters are KXKL], and Country KWLI (92.5 THE WOLF)/DENVER. The biggest of those changes include the departure of current KIMN, KXKO, PD BILL GAMBLE who is helping with the transition.WILKS VP/Programming JEFF SANDERS told ALL ACCESS, "My thanks to BILL for his true professionalism in the transition. We're going back the way radio should be -- live in as many shifts as possible, and we will have an on-air PD and Promotion Director for each station. I expect to announce the individual PDs and finalize the on-air staff lineup, later today."
Meanwhile, DenverRadio.net, a great local source for radio info, features a thread entitled "'Huge' Layoffs at Wilks-Denver." The first name mentioned in connection with this bulletin is Dunbar, who's been a part of the local radio scene for many years, working at signals such as The Hawk, KOA and The Fox -- and in a subsequent post, Dunbar confirms his departure.
A more positive rumor suggests two notable returns to KOOL: Da Boogieman and Cha Cha, both of whom exited in the station's previous round of cost-cutting. If it's true, fans aplenty will toast the news even as insiders lament positions lost behind the scenes. More news as it becomes available...