LAT's Gold jumps to Washington Post
Annual issue is out this week
"Breakfast with the Beatles," radio's longest-running Beatles show at more than twenty years, will air on 97.1 KLXS for the last time the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Host Chris Carter announced the impending cancellation to the faithful on this morning's show, setting off a paroxysm of MySpace and blog reaction.
"Did I just hear you say that they want to take Breakfast w/ the Beatles off the air?!?! That crazy.""They don't call it KLSux for nothing....Sundays aren't Sundays without BWTB. Gotta have it."
"God, Chris!!! why'd you have to end it with such a SAD SONG today?!?!?! yesterday??? i was in tears!"
Tabloid Baby blogs that the move "seems incredibly short-sighted in light of the intense new interest in the Beatles thanks to the new Vegas spectacular, new releases, McCartney's divorce and the runaway, cross-generational success of the Fab Forever tribute group, but coming from the same station that replaced Howard Stern with Adam Carolla and runs the mirthless Frosty, Heidi & Frank chucklefest, the killing of one of the few quality shows on radio is small surprise." They could also have mentioned The U.S. vs. John Lennon, the documentary coming soon. Jon Wiener, the Lennon biographer and KPFK host, makes an appearance in the trailer now in theaters.
Carter apparently holds out hope for a new radio home. (Here's an earlier interview with Rip Rense.) BWTB.blogspot is so far silent on the show's demise. Deirdre O'Donoghue, the longtime host, died in 2001.
* Sunday night update: Carter sent an email around saying that the show will officially go on hiatus after Sept. 3, with some possibility of a return in January. "We have very strong ratings and a loyal listenership, but formats must be consistent. So, we’re looking for a new home for our beloved show. But, if KLSX gets enough emails and phones calls, maybe we could show them how much we want to keep the show on." He plans to get a website going by Monday night.