No more 3 a.m. feedings.
Jo Myers, a wide-awake morning person on Denver radio stations for more than 20 years, is opting to sleep in.
Myers last week told station management that she’s leaving KOSI 101.1-FM at the end of the year. “I want to try something else,” she told me. That something else includes finishing a book about death and its often-
ugly effect on family ties. (She’s open to offers from would-be publishers at jo@jomyers.com.)
Myers hit local airwaves in 1983 when she hired on at KLIR (later KMJI). There were stops at KPBI and KAZY, and a one-year hiatus in Florida, where, she once told me, “the average age is deceased,” before she joined KOSI in 2000.
Not the least of her decision to leave the biz was getting up at 3 a.m. Monday to Friday to be on the air with sidekick Murphy Huston by 5 a.m. “I used to say it’s nice because my (work) day is over by 10 o’clock, but I had to plan everything around my nap.”
Huston, one of the easiest-going guys on the planet, says he’ll miss her. “It’s like a marriage. It’s been seven years. But I think it’s the best thing for her.”
Management hasn’t decided whether she’ll stay on the air until her contract runs out in December. That would be rare in a business where you’re a voice one day, a trivia-question answer the next.
Dave Dillon, KOSI program director, says he hasn’t thought that far ahead. “We haven’t gotten into that. She was gracious to give us three-months’ notice. Most of the time it’s two weeks and see you later. We want to make sure the transition is smooth.” Candidates, he says, are already lining up. Ah, radio.
If she can find a piano player, Myers might consider reviving her singing career; in the mid-1990s she fronted a pretty decent band called “Jo Mama and the Mama’s Boys.”
But radio? No more for her.
“I don’t want to stay just because I have a job. It’s time for a change.” Still, she left the door slightly ajar. “I’m getting out of radio, but never say never.”
Around the dial
Another going: Roger Hudson, award-winning newshound at KOA 850-AM, leaving the station at the end of the month to become assistant news director at Clear Channel’s Houston outlet … And a coming: Fans of the KLZ “oldies” format can find Pete “PJ the Deejay” Wagner back and doing the same stuff on KRDZ 1440-AM in Wray. May have to drive out there to hear it … KGDQ 101.9-FM (“La Gran D”) hosts a job fair with 30 businesses on Oct. 30 at St. Cajetan’s Church, 4335 W. Byers Place. … Sirius Satellite Radio launching an Internet version, and it’s free Oct. 25 and 26. Info at sirius.com/howard … Quotable: “You become very attached. It’s hard to find someone in this business you can work with.” Murphy Huston
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-954-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
