Ken O’Brien

Country Aircheck reported this morning that 99.9 (WKIS-Miami) Kiss Country’s Ken O’Brien will be leaving the station at the end of June.  He gave his notice on Friday.

In a quote given to Country Aircheck, Ken said “Thanks to [Beasley President] Bruce Beasley and [GSM, former GM] Carole Bowen, who brought me to Miami.  And thank you to [SVP/MM] Joe Bell. The run here has been absolutely fantastic. The promotional programs we built including the annual Chili Cookoff pushed everything to new heights, and the on-air team is made up of seasoned professionals who are great at what they do. I don’t know what’s next, but in the meantime I’ve got a fishing boat that needs to be exercised and I’m teaching flying lessons at Fort Lauderdale airport.”

There’s been no word yet on if anyone will replace him alongside TC on the afternoon show when he departs at month’s end.  His behind the scenes job as program director has been filled by Rob Morris, the VP of Programming, on an interim basis for now.  Morris came to the station when CBS Radio obtained Kiss Country (along with others based in the same building such as Power 96 and 560 WQAM) in exchange for some stations in other markets including Tampa in a rare radio “trade.”

While the politics of the radio business got in the way at times, we appreciate all that Ken O’Brien and his staff at Kiss Country have done over the past few years to support SFCM, and wish Ken nothing but the best of luck in his future endeavors.  We look forward to forging new relationships with the powers-that-be in the near future!