I just heard from Wade Douglas, the reporter with the unmistakable voice that defined some of the KOGO 600 radio news reports for years. He was just laid off.
The station also let reporters Marilyn Hyder and Sally Hixson go as part of an apparent cost-cutting measure that comes a few months after KOGO dropped its morning news block.
KOGO’s now left with two reporters and one anchor.
Douglas said that talk shows are cheaper for the station to run and news was losing its ground.
KPBS, the only other major radio news source in San Diego, recently began using the slogan “KPBS, where news matters.” Douglas said that KOGO newsroom employees began joking after the morning news block was dropped that KOGO was “where news mattered” in the past tense.
“Unfortunately, the slogan became reality,” Douglas said. “Now, all that remains are bits of news between the infotainment.”