Popular California radio host torches network in ruthless signing off post: ‘Completely blind’

A beloved FM radio host who lost his job after 37 years servicing the Bay area airwaves has gone scorched earth on the network with a brutal social media post.

Lamont Hollywood, one half of the one half of long-running Lamont and Tonelli morning show on 107.7 The Bone, blamed corporate restructuring and severe cutbacks at the parent company

In a Facebook post Monday, Hollywood said that he was laid off due to corporate restructuring and severe cutbacks at the parent company of his radio station, Cumulus Media, for the end of his career.

“What we are all witnessing is the tragic consequences of debt-fueled media consolidation,” Hollywood raged.

“For years, giant corporate conglomerates bought up hundreds of radio stations using mass leverage, only to spend the next decade slashing real human talent, gutting local newsrooms, and replacing live voices with syndicated feeds and automated voice-tracking just to pay down interest on executive balance sheets.”

He also claimed that he lost his job to “preserve executive salaries and bonuses.”

The Bone 107.7’s station’s owner, Cumulus Media, which owns 394 radio stations, filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas in March with ​a restructuring deal to wipe out the company’s $697 million in debt, Reuter’s reported.

Cumulus blamed competition from digital audio and streaming platforms, changes in the advertising market, and declining audiences for radio. The company previously ​filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

“The suits in corporate headquarters treat a radio station like a spreadsheet, completely blind to the fact that radio was built on authentic human connection, community trust, and undeniable personality,” he said.

“They think they can algorithmically automate decades of trust, local flavor, and real intimacy with a community. When companies gut the very voices that give a station its identity, they destroy the soul of the medium and push loyal listeners away.”

Hollywood did manage to thank his audience, his former partner and a host of famous musicians, broadcasters and media figures, who he owes “a world of gratitude”.

Hollywood’s co-host of 35 years, Paul Tonelli, left the show two years ago.

The duo started out on KSJO before going to KSAN in 2003.

Cumulus had ended the show in 2024, but brought Hollywood back to continue with his own show.

This comes after Cumulous also let go of Bay Area sports host Greg Papa, who is undergoing treatment for cancer.