Fans are baffled and outraged at the firing last Thursday of Majic 104.9 radio darling Chaz Saunders, a 20-year veteran at the station.
Arguably the most beautiful voice in local radio, Saunders told the American she plans to enjoy what she calls a “divine vacation” before getting back to possibly getting back to writing and starting a new show called Jazz with Chaz.
A reliable source at the station said management cited budget cuts as the reason for not renewing Saunders’ contract.
“Well, I’m not buying that,” blasted a reader, after reading about Saunders’ dismissal in an online news piece on stlamerican.com.
“If their budget is so tight, why don’t they stop all these hook-ups and promotions?” the online reader said.
“Perhaps they can save some money in the process and retain an asset like Chaz.”
However, Clear Channel Communications, which owns Majic (KMJM-FM), four other local stations (KLOU-FM, KSD-FM, KSLZ-FM, KATZ-FM,) and 1,150 stations worldwide, was $8 billion in debt last year, according to the Washington Post.
Managers at Clear Channel stations hadn’t returned calls from the American by press time.
Saunders, a New York-native, started her radio career in Columbia, S.C., where she attended college. Clear Channel sent her to St. Louis in 1988.
“This is another example of profit margin trumping audience preferences,” radio historian Frank Absher said of her dismissal.
“Ms. Saunders is widely admired for her work and local Arbitron figures show she was doing well in terms of listenership, but that apparently wasn’t enough for the accountants.”
The communications giant reportedly agreed to sell the company last year to a consortium of private-equity firms led by Bain Capital Partners and Thomas H. Lee Partners. The group agreed to pay $26.7 billion for Clear Channel, including its $8 billion debt.
A source at Majic said that urban stations and black listeners are suffering the brunt of the company’s scale-back.
In the past two years, several African Americans (including market manager Lee Clear) have been fired from Clear Channel’s two local urban stations, KATZ-FM (100.3 The Beat) and Majic.
A source at Majic said it would come as a surprise if Tony Scott or Daryl Eason keep their jobs until January 2008. Scott’s contract hasn’t been renewed, according to the source.
Scott’s popular morning show recently was moved to afternoons, making room for the nationally syndicated Steve Harvey Show. A switch to nationally syndicated shows represents financial cutbacks, leaving only a board operator to be paid locally during the show.
However, many regular readers of the American’s website, stlamerican.com, voiced dismay at the turn to nationally syndicated shows. Many refused to keep listening to Majic and called for a boycott.
“At what point will listeners’ preferences matter to radio’s decision makers?” Absher asked.
“It appears Chaz was fired because she was being paid too much. You get higher pay when you do a good job, so because she worked hard and did well, she was let go.”
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To comment on this story, visit www.stlamerican.com. To view comments from other online readers, see page C6.
