Hendrie yanked early

In the first segment of his final show on KFI, Phil Hendrie apparently had too much fun at the expense of his replacement starting today, John Ziegler. The rest of last Friday's show was pulled off the air by management and replaced with a tape of a previous show, LA Radio reports.

While Phil has poked fun of people he has worked with before (David G. Hall, as the domineering pd), his impersonation of John Ziegler Friday night made John sound, as one reader described it, “like a buffoon.” Another reader said the portrayal was "ugly."

Now you might speculate that pulling Hendrie off the air is the kind of thing that AM 640's shoutmeisters would scream censorship over if it happened to one of theirs. Not this time. Ziegler was gracious, but told the LARadio he agrees with KFI's action: "While Phil's portrayal of me was certainly not remotely accurate or flattering, it is quite a backhanded compliment to think that not only did I become one of Phil's few ‘real life’ characters, but also that I was his final character on KFI. I consider that, in a twisted way, to be an honor of sorts. That being said, I do not think that it was a good idea for him to do what he did and I believe that management made the correct call in taking him off the air." Hendrie is scheduled to resurface tonight in his same 7 p.m. time slot, but on the less-listened to KLAC (AM 570).

Previously:
Phil Hendrie off KFI
KFI adds a talker
The face of Phil Hendrie